Legislative Activity Senate to Take Up Temporary Tax Extenders Package; House Takes Different Approach During the week of May 12, the Senate is expected to take up the EXPIRE Act (S. 2260), which provides a two-year extension for certain tax extenders, which expired on January 1. The Senate’s approach for dealing with tax extenders differs … Continue Reading
LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITY FARM BILL On Saturday, September 28, in its fast-track rule to consider the continuing resolution, the House approved (by a vote of 226-191) a rule to merge its “agriculture-only” bill and the Nutrition Reform and Work Opportunity Act of 2013 (H.R. 3102), which would cut Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food … Continue Reading
LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITY WRRDA Reauthorization On Thursday, September 19, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee marked up and approved H.R. 3080, the Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2013 (WRRDA). WRRDA was introduced as a bi-partisan measure by Chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA), Ranking Member Nick Rahall (D-WV), Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee Chairman Bob Gibbs … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Appropriations Action Last week, the House Appropriations Committee passed the FY 2014 Commerce-Justice-Science, Financial Services, and Legislative Branch appropriations bills. The House was expected to debate the Defense appropriations bill (H.R. 2397) last week as well, but disagreements over the rule process have stalled floor action. Republican leadership would like to debate … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Appropriations Action Last week the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation/Housing and Urban Development approved its spending bill for FY 2014. The bill provides $44.1 billion ($13.9 billion less than the President requested) and reflects the automatic spending cuts required under sequestration. Although the bill largely protects core funding for surface transportation programs … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Budget and Appropriations The House approved its version of FY 2014 Homeland Security appropriations on June 6, but the Senate is just beginning the appropriations process. Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) has announced that the Homeland Security Subcommittee 302(b) allocation for FY 2014 will be $39.1 billion (plus $227 billion for … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Full Time Employee Bill Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Sen. Joe Donnelly (R-IN) introduced a bill that would change the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) definition of a full-time worker to someone who works 40 hours a week, up from 30 hours, titled the “Forty Hours is Full Time Act of 2013.” The Senators also … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Student Loan Reform Senators continue to work on a bipartisan deal to address federally subsidized student loan interest rates, which expire July 1. The long-term deal, which is expected to (1) peg the rates to the 10-year Treasury bill, (2) include a consolidated rate cap – something Democrats have called “non-negotiable,” and (3) … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate This week Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is expected to conclude the debate and amendment process on the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act (S. 744) and bring the bill to a final vote on the Senate floor before Congress departs for the Fourth of July recess. Cloture votes are … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate Confirmation Vote Last Monday, June 10, the Senate Commerce Committee unanimously approved the nomination of Mayor Anthony Foxx to be the next Secretary of Transportation. Following the Committee vote, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) stated that a floor vote on Mr. Foxx’s nomination could come before the Fourth of July recess, but … Continue Reading
Legislative Branch Activity National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) Over the course of two days last week, the House debated over 150 amendments to its FY 2014 NDAA bill (H.R. 1960). Notably, the House approved by 305-121 an amendment to transfer all combat operations to Afghans by the end of this year and withdraw all U.S. … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Appropriations Action Last week the House Appropriations Committee approved its FY 2014 Defense and Agriculture spending bills. The Defense bill will likely be the first to reach the House floor, possibly this week. Subcommittee action continues this week with the Energy and Water and Transportation-Housing bills both scheduled for markups (see This … Continue Reading
LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITY Action on FY 2014 Appropriations Bills. Last week the House passed its first FY 2014 appropriations bills – Military Construction-Veterans Affairs (H.R. 2216) and Homeland Security (H.R. 2217). Even before the bills were brought to the floor, the White House threatened to veto both, citing its disagreement with the topline discretionary spending cap … Continue Reading
