Legislative Activity House to Vote on Additional Health Care Legislation This week Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) announced that the House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on two pieces of health care legislation. These bills are part of the third phase of Speaker Paul Ryan’s repeal and replace strategy. H.R. 2579, the Broader Options … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Potential for Reconciliation Language to Move Through Committees This Week With reports that reconciliation language was available for House Republicans to review last week, sources indicate that the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the House Committee on Ways and Means may mark up their respective reconciliation language this Wednesday, March 8, … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Verma Visits Senate Finance With Secretary Price now in place at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), it is Seema Verma’s turn to experience the Senate confirmation process as the nominee for Administrator of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). On Thursday, February 16, Verma will appear before the … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate to Vote on the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) Conference Report Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced the Senate is expected to vote on the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (S. 524) conference report this week. The bipartisan legislation authorizes grant programs; creates a task force on pain management; expands … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity H.R. 5273, Helping Hospitals Improve Patient Care Act of 2016, scheduled for House Floor Vote House Majority Leader, Kevin McCarthy, announced H.R. 5273, Helping Hospitals Improve Patient Care Act of 2016 (HIP-C), introduced by House Committee on Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health Chairman Pat Tiberi (R-OH) and Ranking Member Jim McDermott (D-WA), … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity 114th Congress Prepares for Busy Appropriations and Budget Season Legislators are gearing up for a busy agenda at the start of the 114th Congress, including several key appropriations and budget priorities. On December 16, 2014, President Obama signed the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act (also known as the “CRomnibus”). The CRomnibus funds … Continue Reading
Budget & Appropriations Appropriators continue to work on a FY 2015 omnibus appropriations measure, despite a conservative push to use the legislation to block any immigration-related executive action by President Obama, which could jeopardize passage of the 12-bill package. Senate Legislative Activity On Monday, November 17, following any Leader remarks, there will be a period … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Next Steps Uncertain for Terrorism Risk Insurance Bill On July 17, the Senate passed the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (S. 2244) by a bipartisan margin of 93-4. This bill, introduced by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), would extend the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) to December 31, 2021; TRIA is currently set … Continue Reading
Senate Legislative Activity The Senate Appropriations Committee will continue to hold hearings on the FY 2015 Budget this week. See this week’s Budget and Appropriations Capital Thinking Blog Post for further details. The Senate will convene today, Monday, March 31, at 2:00 pm. After any leader remarks, the Senate will proceed to consideration of H.R. 4302, the … Continue Reading
LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITY Appropriations Work Begins Following last week’s submission by President Obama of his FY 2015 Budget Proposal to Congress, appropriators are set to begin work in earnest on the FY 2015 spending bills. Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-WA) previously stated that her committee would not take up a budget resolution for FY … Continue Reading
LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITY Appropriators Ready Omnibus For Action Closely guarding any progress, House and Senate Appropriations staff worked over the holiday recess to reconcile their respective versions of FY 2014 spending bills in order to incorporate them into a comprehensive omnibus package. Early this week, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Ranking Member Richard Shelby … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity House Appropriations Action Last week, the House approved its $595 billion FY 2014 Defense appropriations bill (H.R. 2397) by a vote of 315-105. An amendment from Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) to eliminate funding for the National Security Administration’s (NSA) telephone record collection program, which Republican leadership resisted bringing to the floor, was narrowly … Continue Reading
Legislative and Executive Branch Activity Defense Appropriations This week, the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense will mark up its FY 2014 Department of Defense Appropriations Bill. Last week, the House passed its FY 2014 Defense spending measure (H.R. 2397). The House bill provides $3.55 billion less for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO), which some say is … Continue Reading
Executive and Legislative Branch Activity State-Foreign Operations Appropriations Update Last week, Senate Appropriations Committee members added a provision in the Senate FY 2014 State-Foreign Operations spending bill that seeks to sanction any nation that grants asylum to Edward Snowden, a former U.S. contractor facing felony charges in the U.S. for having leaked U.S. surveillance secrets. … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Secretary of Homeland Security After Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano’s announcement last week that she will be stepping down from her position, it remains unclear who will be chosen to replace her as the head of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Several names have been mentioned in connection with a possible … 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 passed the FY 2014 Energy and Water Appropriations bill (H.R. 2609), the third FY 2014 spending bill to be approved by the chamber. This week, floor consideration of the FY 2014 Defense Appropriations bill (H.R. 2397) will commence under a structured rule that will limit the … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Senate Appropriations Committee Membership. On Thursday, June 20, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) announced that Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) has joined the committee to fill the seat held by the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ). In a statement released last week, the Chairwoman expressed her confidence in the value Sen. Coons … 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 Branch Activity National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) The Senate Armed Services Committee filed its bill, S. 1197, on Thursday, June 20. Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) and Ranking Member James Inhofe (R-OK) would like to bring the bill to the Senate floor in July, but that remains uncertain at this time. Defense Appropriations Last week, … 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