Senate Legislative Activity The Senate will meet on Monday, January 11, at 2:o0pm. Following any Leader remarks, the Senate will be in a period of morning business until 5:00pm, with Senators permitted to speak up to 10 minutes each. At 5:00pm, the Senate will enter Executive Session to consider Executive Calendar #213, the nomination of … Continue Reading
Senate Legislative Activity On Monday, April 27, the Senate will convene at 3:00pm. Following any Leaders remarks, the Senate will resume consideration of H.R.1191, the Iran Congressional Review Act. At 5:00pm, the Senate will enter into an Executive Session to consider Executive Calendar #75, the nomination of Dava J. Newman, of Massachusetts, to be Deputy Administrator … Continue Reading
President Obama to Release FY 2016 Budget Later today, President Obama is set to unveil his FY 2016 Budget (Budget), much of which has already been previewed in the weeks leading up to its release. Squire Patton Boggs will release a comprehensive Budget analysis on Wednesday, February 4. Senate Legislative Activity On Monday, February 2, … Continue Reading
Senate Legislative Activity On Monday, January 26, the Senate will convene at 4:30pm. Following any Leader remarks, the Senate will resume consideration of S.1, the Keystone bill. The filing deadline for first degree amendments to the bill is 3:00pm on Monday, with the second degree amendment deadline set for 5:00pm. A roll call vote will … Continue Reading
113th Congress Adjourns, 114th Congress Set to Begin During the final weeks of the 113th Congress, lawmakers were able to pass a $1.1 trillion spending package, as well as legislation that retroactively extended more than 50 expired tax provisions for the 2014 calendar year. Additionally, the Senate was able to confirm numerous Obama nominees, including … Continue Reading
On November 20, 2014, President Obama announced the signing of an executive order that will have significant implications for the country’s immigration system. As a result, employers need to begin to consider how changes in employment eligibility verification and worksite enforcement, immigrant and nonimmigrant visas, and employment-based immigration provisions will impact their businesses. Squire Patton … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate to Vote on Highway Funding Bill This week, the Senate is expected to vote on H.R. 5021, the Highway and Transportation Funding Act of 2014, which recently passed the House by a vote of 367-55. The bill would patch and reauthorize the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) through May 2015 by using transfers … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House To Vote On CFTC Reauthorization Bill This week, the House is expected to debate and vote on the reauthorization of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) through September 2018 (H.R. 4413). Additionally, while the Senate Agriculture Committee has yet to unveil its CFTC reauthorization bill, the level of bipartisan support that H.R. 4413 receives … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Appropriations Committee On June 11, the House Appropriations Committee favorably reported out of committee by voice vote the FY 2015 Homeland Security Appropriations bill. This bill funds the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and related agency activities, such as border security, law enforcement, cybersecurity protection, counter-narcotics efforts, counter-terrorism activities, and disaster response. … Continue Reading
Legislative Branch Activity Cybersecurity Legislation At a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) hearing last week, Ranking Member Tom Coburn (R-OK) announced that the committee is working on legislation that will give the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) the authority to hire more cybersecurity professionals. Ranking Member Coburn stated that the committee will … Continue Reading
LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITY Debt Ceiling The FY 2014 Continuing Resolution enacted in October (P.L. 113-46) suspended the debt ceiling through February 7. While this deadline can typically be extended for a length of time through accounting techniques known as “extraordinary measures”, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew is urging Congress to address an increase in the debt ceiling … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Leadership is expected to bring up an Affordable Care Act (ACA) bill next week that would address security issues with the health insurance exchanges and enhance protection of personal information entered on the healthcare.gov website. The measure will be the first of a number of proposals in 2014 addressing health reform focusing … Continue Reading
LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITY Senate Vote on Fed Chair Expected This Week The Senate is expected to hold a vote on the confirmation of Ms. Janet Yellen to be Chair of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors this week. In addition to pushing for a vote on Ms. Yellen’s confirmation, Senate Democrats have already confirmed two judges … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate to Move Forward with Confirmations The Senate is expected to vote on the confirmations of nominees Rep. Mel Watt (D-NC) to be Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and Janet Yellen to be Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, within the next two weeks, before the … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity The House and Senate will continue to hold oversight and investigation hearings focused on the problems with HealthCare.gov. This week’s hearings follow the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) announcement that 106,185 individuals have selected a health care insurance plan through the exchanges and President Obama’s announcement that HHS will use its … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Farm Bill Conference Progress Senate Agriculture Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) has remarked publicly that a farm bill compromise is “doable” before Congress leaves for the Thanksgiving break, as agreements may have been reached or are close to being reached on issues including dairy, crop insurance, and conservation. It also appears that the conference … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Following a bad week for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) roll-out, with criticism of the deficiencies from Republicans and Democrats alike, this week will bring renewed calls for legislative action to delay implementation. Provisions that would extend the open enrollment period and a delayed tax enforcement of the individual mandate are getting the … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity This Week’s Hearings: Tuesday, October 29: The House Homeland Security Committee has again rescheduled its markup of the Critical Infrastructure Research and Development Advancement Act of 2013 (H.R. 2952) and the Homeland Security Cybersecurity Boots-on-the-Ground Act (H.R. 3107) for Tuesday at 10:00 am. H.R. 2952 focuses on research and development efforts at the … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity This past week has seen the evolution of the federal government shutdown and the slow emergence of a potential framework for a deal. Late in the week, President Barack Obama met separately with Senate Democrats, Senate Republicans, House Democrats and House Republicans. While President Obama continues to maintain he will not negotiate on … Continue Reading
Regulatory Activity President Obama Names Pick for New Fed Chair President Barack Obama announced last Wednesday, October 9 that he would nominate current Federal Reserve (the Fed or the Reserve) Vice Chair Janet Yellen to replace outgoing Chairman Ben Bernanke. The President’s announcement comes after several weeks of tense debate on who should be nominated to … Continue Reading
LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITY Federal Government Shutdown Continues As the federal government enters the second week of a shutdown, there has been no progress to end the stalemate between Democrats and Republicans, and it appears more and more likely a resolution of the shutdown and the necessary increase of the nation’s borrowing authority will converge on October … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Cybersecurity Legislation Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) announced that she plans to introduce legislation soon that will offer tax credits to businesses that make investments in cybersecurity protections. Under her proposal, businesses would be able to claim a credit worth up to 30 percent of the costs of investment in new, qualified cyber defenses. … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Health reform provisions continue to impede resolution of the continuing resolution (CR) and an end to the government shutdown. With support from the Administration, Senate Democrats insist they will only consider a clean CR without Affordable Care Act (ACA) defunding or delay provisions. The Senate has also refused to take up a bill … Continue Reading
LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITY Last Week’s Activity on FY 2014 Appropriations With a party-line vote, on Friday, September 27, the Senate amended the FY 2014 Continuing Resolution (CR) (H. J. Res. 59) as it was approved by the House on September 20, to restore funding for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) (P.L. 111-148, P.L. 111-152) and shorten … Continue Reading
