Legislative Activity House and Senate to Continue Appropriations Bills Markups, Floor Consideration The House and Senate Appropriations Committees will continue to markup appropriations bills this week, while the House is expected to consider its FY 2017 Energy and Water Development Appropriations bill on the floor. It is unclear which appropriations bill the Senate will consider … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate Considering THUD and MilCon-VA, After Finally Passing Energy-Water Bill This week, the Senate will resume consideration of the FY 2017 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) Appropriations Act and the FY 2017 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs (MilCon-VA) Appropriations Act, after finally passing the FY 2017 Energy and Water Development (Energy-Water) Appropriations … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate Republicans Hope ‘Third Time is the Charm’ on Energy-Water Bill The Senate will bring up the FY 2017 Energy and Water Development (Energy-Water) Appropriations Act for a third cloture vote on the Senate floor this week. The previous votes both failed to reach the requisite 60 ayes, as Democrats have chosen to … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate Continues Consideration of Appropriations Bills, House Process Delayed The Senate is expected to pass the FY 2017 Energy and Water Development (Energy-Water) Appropriations bill as early as this week, after considering numerous amendments on the floor last week. In addition to the Energy-Water bill, the Senate may begin consideration of the FY … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate Expected to Consider Energy-Water Appropriations Act on Floor, MilCon-VA Likely Next The Senate is expected to consider the FY 2017 Energy and Water Development (Energy-Water) Appropriations Act on the floor this week (full text available here), and will likely move on to the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs (MilCon-VA) Appropriations Act next. … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Appropriations Process in Full Swing as House and Senate Mark Up Bills Both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees will hold subcommittee and full committee appropriations bill markups and release 302(b) suballocations this week, even without an approved budget resolution in either chamber. The budget process has stalled in both the House and … 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 All But Over, CR Likely The appropriations process is almost certainly over and when Congress returns from the August recess there will be just ten legislative days before federal funding runs out, hardly enough time to negotiate a budget deal or an omnibus spending bill. As anticipated, Congress will likely pass … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Congress Shuffles Closer to a Budget Deal, as Appropriations Process Stops The appropriations process is all but over, after a Confederate flag flap during floor debate of the House Interior-Environment bill brought the process to a standstill. While the appropriations committees in both the House and Senate may mark-up their final appropriations bills … 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
Legislative Activity Senate Appropriations Process Stalls as Democrats Look to Force a Budget Deal The Senate appropriations process has stalled, and it is unclear how Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will proceed this week. Last Thursday, Senate Democrats followed through with their announced strategy to stop appropriations bills from reaching the Senate floor by … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate Democrats Continue to Push for a Budget Deal In the coming weeks, Senate Democrats will implement a strategy intended to force Republicans into a budget deal. Senate Democratic leadership does not want to rely on President Obama’s vetoes of appropriations bills to force Republicans into negotiations, and will likely prevent any appropriations … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Transportation-Housing and Defense Appropriations Bills on the House Floor The House will continue consideration of the Transportation-Housing (T-HUD) Appropriations Bill this week. The House was expected to vote on the $55.3 billion measure last Thursday, but leadership said a large number of amendments required pushing the vote to this week. Rail safety was … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Appropriations Bills Head to House Floor The House will debate the Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) and the Transportation and Housing (T-HUD) FY 2016 Appropriations Bills on the floor this week. Both bills adhere to the sequester’s spending limits, even though President Obama has threatened to veto any appropriations bills that do not adjust the caps. … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate Joins House in Appropriations Effort Senate Appropriators begin work on their FY 2016 spending bills this week, with subcommittee markups scheduled Tuesday for the Military Construction-Veterans Affairs and Energy-Water appropriations bills. Committee Chairman Thad Cochran (R-MS) has not publicly revealed how he apportions the mandated topline discretionary funding level of $1.07 trillion … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Democrats Continue to Push for a Budget Deal The President and Democrats in the House and Senate continue to pressure Republicans for a budget deal to replace the sequester’s strict spending limits. Most House Democrats voted against the two sequester-level appropriations bills that were recently considered on the House floor, President Obama has … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House and Senate Nearing Budget Conference Agreement House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) included possible consideration of the budget conference report on this week’s House schedule, and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Michael Enzi (R-WY) said he is optimistic the House and Senate budget conferees can come to an agreement this week, noting he … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House and Senate Budget Conference The House and Senate budget conference committee will hold a public conference meeting on Monday, as they attempt to negotiate a joint agreement on a fiscal 2016 budget resolution that can pass both houses of Congress. Most of the Committee’s upcoming negotiations will take place in private, and … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House and Senate Budget Conference The House and Senate Budget Committees are working towards a budget resolution that will pass both the House and the Senate. The Budget Committee Chairmen, Representative Tom Price (R-GA) and Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY), returned early from the two-week recess to discuss the budget resolutions, as they try … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House and Senate Committees to Mark Up Budget Resolutions; How Will Congress Deal with the Sequester? The House and Senate Budget Committees will hold markup hearings this week on their respective Budget Resolutions. The House Committee will mark up its resolution on Wednesday, while the Senate Committee will hold markup hearings on both … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity President Submits Proposed FY 2016 Budget to Congress On Monday, February 2, the President submitted his proposed FY 2016 budget to Congress, kick-starting the annual budget and appropriations process. His $4.066 trillion proposal called for tens of billions of dollars in new spending, arguing that the Federal deficit has been cut and the … Continue Reading
