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 Reid, Paul Working on Repatriation Bill to Fund Transportation Infrastructure On June 10, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) indicated that they are working on legislation that would allow corporations to repatriate foreign earnings at lower rates, suggesting that this revenue could be used to fund improvements to … Continue Reading
Legislative Activity Student Loan Interest Rates Last week, the Senate passed its student loan interest rate compromise bill by an 81-18 vote. As previously noted, this proposal would peg interest rates to the 10-year Treasury note, plus 2.05 percent for both the subsidized and unsubsidized portions of the undergraduate loans, plus 3.6 percent for graduate … 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 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 Last Thursday, June 6 the House approved the FY 2014 Homeland Security appropriations bill by a vote of 245-182, which provides $38.9 billion in discretionary funding to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Both Republican and Democrat amendments successfully transferred funds from the Office of the Undersecretary for Management … Continue Reading
