Legislative Action Comprehensive Energy Bill Conferees met on last week on Thursday for the opening session to consider energy legislation, S. 2012, the North American Energy Security and Infrastructure Act of 2016. If passed, the bill would be the first piece of comprehensive energy legislation to emerge from Congress in almost a decade. The mood … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Lawmakers Continue Focus on TSA Wait Times, While House Spending Panel Approves TSA Funding for FY 2017 The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security approved its draft FY 2017 appropriations measure on Thursday, June 9, including $7.6 billion for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), $163 million more than in FY 2016 and $21.8 … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate May Consider Combined THUD and MilCon-VA Appropriations Bills This Week This week the Senate is expected to consider the $56.5 billion FY 2017 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD) Appropriations Act on the floor, likely by combining the THUD bill with the FY 2017 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity President May Highlight Obamacare Successes in State of the Union Address On Tuesday, January 12, President Barack Obama will give his final State of the Union address to Congress. While details of the speech have yet to be released, last week, the President vetoed Congress’s budget reconciliation bill, which aimed to dismantle the … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Congress Reacts to President Obama’s Gun Control Proposals Shortly before departing Washington for the holidays, President Obama pledged a focus on gun safety in 2016, suggesting he may even act through his own Executive authority. Last week, the White House unveiled a series of such gun control plans aimed at tightening existing laws. … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate and House to Focus on Appropriations Bills Under New Caps Following the recent two-year budget and debt ceiling agreement, The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, the House and Senate are now working under new discretionary caps, increased by $50 billion for FY 2016 and equally divided between defense and non-defense programs. The … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Two-Year Budget Agreement Approved Late last week, the House and Senate sent to the President a two-year bipartisan budget/debt ceiling agreement, The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (House vote 266-167; Senate vote 64-35). In addition to suspending the debt limit through March 15, 2017, the proposal raises sequestration-level discretionary budget caps by $80 … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Debt Ceiling Looms Over House Speaker Elections According to the Treasury Department, the debt ceiling will be reached on November 3, leaving the House only five more legislative days to increase it. Complicating the issue, the floor vote for a new House Speaker is scheduled for Thursday, October 29, with Rep. Paul Ryan … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Budget Negotiations Continue Amidst Busy Congressional Calendar Budget negotiations between staff for Republican leadership, the White House, and Democrats are ongoing, but there have been few signs of progress. Democrats have recently announced they will not accept changes to entitlements as part of a budget deal to increase government spending, increasing the likelihood … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Budget Negotiations Begin Recently, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) began discussions with President Barack Obama on a budget deal. The three of them participated in a conference call to lay the foundation for negotiations, and while Majority Leader McConnell reportedly pushed to keep Democratic Leadership in … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Likely to Move CR Soon, But Complications Remain With only eight legislative days scheduled in the House before government funding runs out on September 30, Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) is under a short timeline to push a Continuing Resolution (CR) through the House. Speaker Boehner could bring a CR to the floor … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Appropriations Process on the Floor Comes to a Standstill, in Both Houses After an unplanned public fight over a confederate flag amendment in the Interior-Environment Appropriations Bill the House appropriations process has stalled, effectively bringing appropriations efforts on the floor for both Houses of Congress to a standstill just three weeks before the … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate Appropriations Process Stalled for Foreseeable Future Both the House and Senate are on schedule to finish voting all 12 appropriations bills out of committee, which if successful would be the first time in six years. However, the process is likely to remain stalled in the Senate, as Senate Democrats are expected to … Continue Reading
Regulatory Activity Clean Water Proposed Rule The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) has announced a proposed rule that would allow “changes to pollutant analysis methods that are used by industries and municipalities to analyze the chemical, physical, and biological components of wastewater and other environmental samples that are required by regulations under the Clean Water Act.” … Continue Reading
As was previewed in the President’s State of the Union Address, the Administration’s FY 2016 Budget includes approximately US$640 billion in proposed new revenue raisers, aimed largely at investment income, large financial institutions, and offshore income. This additional revenue would “invest in helping working families make their paychecks go further, preparing hardworking Americans to earn … Continue Reading
On February 2, 2015, President Obama submitted his FY 2016 Budget Proposal to Congress, echoing many elements outlined in his State of the Union address. The Budget proposal exceeds restrictive spending caps (“sequestration”) mandated by Congress four years ago and proposes new capital gains and bank taxes, emphasizing tax credits to help the middle class, … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity President Obama to Unveil FY 2016 Budget Later today, President Obama is set to unveil his FY 2016 Budget (Budget). As in previous years, we anticipate that President Obama will seek increased funding for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodities Future Trading Commission (CFTC) than was allocated by Congress for this … Continue Reading
U.N. General Assembly President Barack Obama heads to New York City this Tuesday to attend the 69th Session of the U.N. General Assembly. The President will address the General Assembly on Wednesday. Iraq/Syria Crises This Wednesday in New York City, President Obama will also chair a UNSC meeting on foreign terrorist fighters. Congress passed a stopgap funding bill last … Continue Reading