On the Hill
Oct
26
The House and Senate continue to negotiate a health care reform bill, which has left some open time for both chambers to consider FY10 appropriations bills. The first order of business this week will be to extend the current continuing resolution (CR) for most federal agencies since the current CR expires on Saturday, October 31st.
FY10 Appropriations
Last week congressional leaders discussed including the extension into the conference report on the Interior-Environment appropriations bill, similar to how the original one-month CR was added in conference to Legislative Branch spending bill. They decided against this path forward likely because the Interior bill may face controversy over unrelated provisions. The CR extension is expected to go to December 15th, a little more than a week before Christmas. To date, Congress has completed action on just four of the 12 spending bills for the fiscal year that began on October 1 (Agriculture, Energy & Water, Homeland Security, and Legislative Branch). The UW has secured two earmarks in the Energy & Water bill. The first is a $1 million mark for biofuels work and the second is $880,000 for accelerating research on tidal energy production.
The Interior-Environment appropriation bill is scheduled for House action this week if an agreement can be reached on one controversial provision related to EPA regulation of vessel emissions on the Great Lakes. The UW College of the Environment stands to gain a $4 million earmark in that bill to conduct, compile, and disseminate research on how best to restore and protect the Puget Sound.
The House is also scheduled to consider a bill that would reauthorize Small Business Administration (SBA) programs that provide entrepreneurs with access to capital. The legislation is a combination of eight bills that would extend some stimulus programs that allowed the SBA to increase loans, provide more capital to low-income areas and renewable-energy industries, and make loan guarantees to small health care firms purchasing health information technology.
The Senate may try to take up the Commerce-Justice-Science bill after pulling it from floor consideration last October 13th after Democrats failed to come up with enough votes to limit debate and amendments to the bill. One amendment that is holding up progress would require the 2010 Census to include questions about citizenship and immigration status, which is opposed by the Obama Administration.
Meanwhile, the Senate will focus on the economy this week and try to finish a bill that would extend unemployment benefits. The measure would provide an additional 14 weeks of benefits to unemployed individuals nationwide and would give six more weeks on top of that to states with a three-month average unemployment rate of at least 8.5 percent. The Senate may also take up its FY10 Military Construction-VA appropriations bill.
Because the appropriations process has been slow this fall, mostly due to the health reform debate, Congress is now thinking that a year-end omnibus bill may be necessary to complete the remaining FY 10 appropriations bills. Additionally, the remaining appropriations measures may be used to enact further legislation to help the unemployed and boost job creation.
Health Reform
Debate on health care reform is not expected to begin until next week at the earliest, as Democratic leaders in both chambers are still trying to finalize the legislation they intend to bring to the floor. The House hopes to release their renegotiated health reform measure this week so that they can vote on the package by November 6th. It is possible, that the House will work through that weekend and into Monday and Tuesday before taking a small break for Veterans Day.
Unveiling the bill would answer questions about the shape of the public option and clear the way for final decisions on how to raise revenue to pay for it. While House liberals are looking for a public plan based on Medicare rates, House Leaders are leaving room for moderates’ preferred version after Senate Democrats indicated they were likely to include a public option in their overhaul. Leaders still have a few thorny issues to resolve before they introduce a bill, such as questions about abortion services, insurance for immigrants, cost of medical devices, and hospital payments.
Meanwhile, the Senate continues to work on merging the two reform bills from the Senate Finance and HELP committees, and appears to be moving toward a stronger public option than currently included in the Senate Finance Committee bill. Senate Democratic leaders have other issues to resolve, including whether the final bill would include an employer mandate; a long-term insurance program for those who become disabled; financing to make up for revenue lost by increasing the value of plans considered high cost that would be taxed under the bill; and how to make premiums more affordable since individual coverage will be required by law.
Energy and the Environment
The Senate Environment & Public Works Committee will hold three days of hearings this week on a revised draft of climate change legislation the panel is looking to mark up soon. On Tuesday, the committee will hear from five administration officials – Energy Secretary Chu, Interior Secretary Salazar, Transportation Secretary LaHood, EPA Administrator Jackson, and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Chairman Wellinghoff.
Last week, the House passed legislation that would lead to the creation of a federal research strategy for solar energy. The bill (HR 3585) directs the Energy Department to establish a Solar Technology Roadmap Committee, which would develop a comprehensive federal solar research plan. Bill supporters noted rapid growth in solar manufacturing by European nations and China in recent years. The bill would authorize $350 million for the Energy Department in fiscal 2011, rising to $550 million in fiscal 2015, for a total of $2.25 billion over the five-year period. Some members expressed concerns about the high cost of the bill even while supporting the underlying goals.
The roadmap committee created by the bill would include at least 11 members appointed by the Energy secretary within four months of the bill’s enactment. At least one-third of the members — but not more than half — would be required to come from the solar industry. The bill also would require the appointment of a chairman from outside the federal government. Within 18 months of enactment, the committee would be required to chart a course for research, development, and demonstration activities between the federal government and the private sector. The Energy secretary would be directed to award merit-based grants for projects, with an emphasis on solar manufacturing research performed by industry-led consortia.
FY11 Appropriations
Today is the deadline for submitting proposals for the FY11 federal agenda. Proposals will be reviewed and evaluated over the next several weeks. In January 2010, the Office of Federal Relations will share the results of that work when we present our FY11 Federal Agenda. If you have any questions about this process, please contact me or Jonathan Nurse.
October 26, 2009 at 6:27 am
Sep
28
The congressional agenda this week will sound familiar to those who have been following the action: Both chambers will focus on appropriations measures as the fiscal year winds down on September 30th, and Senate and House committees will continue to resolve differences on health care reform proposals.
Appropriations
Congress has until Wednesday night to pass a continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government running when FY10 starts on Thursday. The CR being discussed in the Senate would give lawmakers in that chamber 30 days to finish work on the FY10 spending bills. But the healthcare measure is also expected to come to the floor within a few weeks so many believe an additional extension will likely be needed.
The CR is needed to give lawmakers additional time after the end of the fiscal year Wednesday to complete the 12 annual appropriations bills. The House has finished work on all 12, while the Senate has completed only five. It is close to wrapping up work on the FY10 Interior-Environment Appropriations bill. Under the CR, most government programs will be funded at FY09 levels, with a few exceptions such as veterans’ health care and the Census Bureau.
Meanwhile, the House will take up conference reports on a handful of spending bills this week if House and Senate differences over earmarks can be resolved. The controversy rests with earmarks designated for private, for-profit entities. In response to complaints that earmarks are a source of corruption, House appropriators added provisions to their appropriations bills requiring that earmarks to for-profit entities undergo a competitive bidding process. The Senate, however, did not agree with this move. Late last week, House and Senate leaders reached an agreement: House earmarks designated for private, for-profit entities will be competitively bid, Senate earmarks will not, and those earmarks that are listed in both bills will not be competitively bid this year but will in future years. One thing is certain, the earmark process will continue to morph as congress injects more and more transparency into the process.
Overall, Democrats plan to spend $75 billion, or 7 percent, more in fiscal 2010 than they did in fiscal 2009 on the 12 annual spending bills, not including emergency spending.
The Office of Federal Relations continues to monitor the earmarks that we have secured in the House bills. The next hurdle is to protect those earmarks as they move through the conference negotiations.
Health Reform
The health care debate will continue to take center stage in both chambers as lawmakers continue to look for a path forward. Senate leaders continue to say that a health bill could be on the floor by the end of the week. While that timetable appears unlikely, it is clear Democrats want to move the bill as soon as possible, with one of the unknowns being how long it will take congressional budget office to score a bill once versions crafted by the two committees – Finance and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) – are merged.
The House continues to push toward having a single bill crafted from the work of three committees, which they hope to have finalized by the end of the week and ready for floor action the following week.
The Office of Federal Relations is working closely with the health sciences schools (medicine, dentistry, nursing, public health, etc.) to protect graduate medical education funding and ensure that programs and grants being proposed through health reform have a positive impact on those entering the health professions.
As always, please let us know if you have questions or would like to discuss how to engage the congressional delegation with your issues and concerns.
Best,
Christy Gullion, Director
September 28, 2009 at 6:12 am
Sep
14
This week, lawmakers will attempt to clear the decks of routine legislative business on the floors of each chamber so that they can continue to give their full attention to how to move major aspects of Democrats’ signature priorities: healthcare reform and climate change legislation.
The House will take up a bill to overhaul the federal student loan system, which has become a top priority for President Obama. The bill would eliminate the Federal Family Education Loan Program and replace it with the Direct Lending Program administered by the US Department of Education. It is estimated that this bill could save up to $87 billion, with some of those savings being used to increase Pell Grants and reduce the federal deficit.
The House will also consider legislation that will provide for an Energy Department program for the research, development, demonstration and commercial application of vehicle technologies.
The Senate plans to finish work on the FY10 Transportation-HUD spending bill early this week, with the first votes on amendments to that measure tonight and stretching into Tuesday. It is clear that they won’t meet the September 30th deadline so a short-term continuing resolution is all but assured.
The Senate Finance Committee is expected to release its long-awaited health care overhaul legislation in advance of a markup. The committee needs to make final decisions on prohibiting federal funds for abortions, changes to the medical malpractice system, and expanding Medicaid. Democratic leaders have a Tuesday deadline to come up with a bipartisan proposal before Democrats decide to go it alone on a measure, an option that could involve budget reconciliation procedures.
Budget reconciliation is a senate procedure that would allow the majority party to limit debate and approve a measure with only 51 votes as opposed to the usual 60. Reconciliation, enacted in 1974 to reduce the budget deficit through better legislative discipline, is designed to align, or reconcile, existing spending laws with the annual budget resolution adopted by the House and Senate. Unlike most other measures, reconciliation bills are immune to a filibuster (which requires 60 votes to overcome). In years past, both parties have used the procedure to advance policy changes that have had little or nothing to do with deficit reduction.
The use of reconciliation does come with some risks to the majority party. The rule allows any senator to raise a point of order to strike out parts of a reconciliation measure that are found not to be budget issues. To a large degree, it is the Senate parliamentarian — an appointee of the majority leader — who makes the call on what does and does not qualify for a spot in a reconciliation bill. In the case of health reform, the Senate Democrats run the risk of having some portions of their health bill removed from consideration.
It will also be a busy work for the Office of Federal Relations. Several members of the UW community are in DC this week for a variety of national meetings. President Emmert will attend the Coalition of Universities for Global Health and participate in a panel discussion with his colleagues from other universities. He will also visit with agency officials and Members of Congress. Other faculty members will also be on the Hill this week advocating for global health initiatives and geological/seismic policy priorities. We are also looking forward to seeing other members of the UW community in DC in the next few weeks.
Christy Gullion, Director
September 14, 2009 at 6:11 am
Sep
7
Congress returns to work this week after a fractious August recess during which lawmakers were confronted about the public health insurance option and other contentious elements in Democratic health reform bills. Policy experts already are identifying less controversial proposals that could attract support from moderate Democrats and even some Republicans.
Lawmakers hope to come up with a compromise on health reform by the middle of October. If no compromise is found, it’s likely they will try to enact a series of smaller health measures.
President Obama will address a joint session of Congress on Wednesday to discuss health care overhaul legislation. Health care negotiations in both chambers are expected to dominate legislative business for much of the fall.
Meanwhile, it seems all but certain that Congress will not be able to complete all twelve FY10 appropriations bills before the next fiscal year begins Oct. 1st. Lawmakers will likely has to pass a continuing resolution (CR) later this month to fund federal agencies when FY10 begins.
House and Senate leaders still hope to avoid an omnibus package. Completing all of the bills individually will depend largely on how quickly the Senate acts on its eight remaining measures.
The House has passed all twelve of their FY10 bills, but none of the measures has gone to conference or been enacted into law. Four bills that both chambers have approved – Agriculture, Energy-Water, Homeland Security, and Legislative Branch – will likely be sent to the President for signature before October 1st.
The Senate is expected to take up three of their FY10 spending bills this week, including Transportation-HUD, Interior-Environment, and Commerce-Justice-Science. The Defense spending bill will follow late this week or next, after subcommittee markup on Wednesday.
Even with the busy legislative schedule this fall, we are looking forward to seeing several members of the UW community in DC and on Capitol Hill. If you are planning on being in DC this fall, please get in touch with our office so that we can coordinate all the visits – and to ensure that you are getting appointments with the folks you need to see. As always, we are here to help you advocate for your projects and programs!
Christy Gullion, Director
September 7, 2009 at 2:48 pm
Aug
7
After the historic vote to confirm US Supreme Court Nominee Sonia Sotomayor – and add more funds to the popular “cash for clunkers” program – the Senate went into their August recess period. The House recessed last week and both will return after Labor Day.
To date, only four of the twelve FY2010 appropriations bills have been approved by the Senate. The remaining measures will likely to dominate the Senate’s floor time in September even as they continue negotiations over health care reform and climate legislation. Senate leaders appear optimistic that they could complete action on four of the eight remaining appropriations bills before the new fiscal year starts October 1st.
Democratic leaders and appropriators are still hoping to pass all 12 appropriations bills through regular order, avoiding the need for an omnibus. However, it appears more and more likely that they will need to approve a short-term continuing resolution. Stay tuned…
Throughout the August recess period, Senate and House Democratic staff and lawmakers will begin informal conference negotiations on the four spending bills the Senate has passed: Legislative Branch, Homeland Security, Energy and Water, and Agriculture. The Senate has named conferees for those bills, but the House has not, which is why these discussions remain “informal” at this point.
Christy Gullion, Director
Aug
5
The Senate approved their Agriculture spending bill yesterday – the fourth fiscal 2010 spending bill passed by the Senate. Informal work to begin reconciling the four spending bills passed by both chambers is expected to occur over the August break so that conference reports can be considered in September. Before leaving last week for its recess, the House reached its goal of passing all 12 spending bills.
Status of Appropriations for FY10.
Aug
3
With the House gone for its August recess, the Senate will turn its attention this week to passing one more spending bill, replenishing the popular Cash for Clunkers program, and confirming President Obama’s pick for the Supreme Court, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, all with the aim to leave town Friday until after Labor Day.
APPROPRIATIONS
As Congress prepares to leave for August recess, the House, which adjourned last week, has completed work on all 12 appropriations bills, and the Senate is expected to be a third of the way done when it departs Friday. The Senate will consider its Agriculture spending measure this week. With Senate passage of the Agriculture bill this week, the Senate will have passed four of its bills.
The Senate plans to continue floor consideration of spending bills in September, and leaders would like to get a handful of spending bills enacted before the Oct. 1 start of federal fiscal year 2010. A continuing resolution will be needed to fund most government agencies when the new fiscal year arrives. Democrats remain intent on enacting all 12 spending bills individually, and avoiding a massive multi-bill omnibus spending measure, as has so often been the result over the past 14 years.
The House and Senate will begin informal and then formal conference committee negotiations to work out the differences between their spending measures. The Office of Federal Relations will continue to advocate for funding priorities that affect the University of Washington, including congressionally-directed funding and specific programmatic (agency) funding.
HEALTH
The six Senate Finance Committee members negotiating a bipartisan healthcare overhaul bill will meet throughout the week, but will not hold a markup on any overhaul measure. While they keep reporting that the group is making progress, no one has seen a proposal on paper. One provision that appears close to a final decision is an insurance co-op in lieu of a public option. The public option issue will likely be hotly debated when Congress returns to DC in September.
The House meanwhile may be on recess, but lawmakers working on a health care overhaul still have a lot of work to do over the break to prepare to pass legislation when they return. Democratic leaders and committee chairs will have to find a way to resolve differences in the versions of the bill approved by two committees – Education and Labor and Ways and Means – and a compromise measure approved just before the House recessed last week by the Energy and Commerce Committee that includes proposals crafted with moderate Democrats on the panel who had opposed the original bill over cost concerns.
The House is looking now to pass the bill in mid-September, a few days after Congress reconvenes.
AUGUST RECESS
House Members have already started their August recess, with many of them back in their home states/districts. The Senate will follow after they complete their work this week. The WA State Delegation will spend the recess period holding town hall meetings, attending forums, and meeting with community leaders and constituent groups – with a focus on health care reform, Recovery Act implementation, and climate issues. Many of the DC staff from these offices will be in the state, and I am arranging for several of these staff to be on campus to learn more about our priorities as they relate to the federal government.
I will be on campus from August 19 through September 4, and am currently scheduling meetings with faculty and staff to discuss on-going University projects and issues. The Office of Federal Relations is also gearing up on the development of our FY2011 Federal Agenda. This agenda will likely include a continued focus on obtaining Recovery Act funding, as well as identifying new research opportunities through health care reform and climate legislation. Additionally, we are beginning to discuss priorities for FY2011 congressionally-directed funding requests.
Please let me know if you would like to meet with me during the time I’m on campus – either to discuss the current FY2010 process, the upcoming FY2011 Federal Agenda development, or any other issue that has some federal nexus and needs some attention by the Office of Federal Relations.
Christy Gullion, Director
August 3, 2009 at 7:33 am
Jul
24
Congress started off this week with the goal of advancing health care reform financing options in preparation for an overall vote on reform measures before their August recess. By the end of the week, however, it became clear to House and Senate leaders – as well as the President – that they would not meet that deadline. Instead they plan to continue negotiations through August and into September when they will try again to garner the votes they need to pass a comprehensive health care reform measure.
This slight “slow down” has allowed everyone to catch their breath and focus on completing the remaining FY10 spending bills.
The House is currently debating the Labor-HHS-Education spending bill on the floor and will likely vote on that final measure later today. This follows the passage of the Transportation-HUD bill yesterday. This leaves the FY10 Defense bill as the final spending measure in front of the House, which they will take action on next week.
The Senate, meanwhile, continues to trail the House in their progress on spending measures. On Monday they will take up the FY10 Energy & Water bill followed by action on their Agriculture and Military Construction-VA bills. In addition to the Senate floor action on Energy-Water, the Senate Appropriations Committee next week plans to mark up another two of its bills: Transportation-HUD and Labor-HHS-Education. That will leave just Defense, which may not occur until after the August recess.
The House and Senate will also continue negotiations over climate legislation. The urgency on this issue is not as intense as it has been on health care reform and several members on both sides of the aisle seem to agree that this legislation will move after health care – sometime in the fall.
While the Office of Federal Relations continues to monitor progress on all of these fronts, we are also beginning to look forward to August when many of our Delegation Members and their staff will return to the state. They will likely focus their activities on meetings and other events focused on the current health care debate as well as continuing to seek feedback from constituencies on how best to craft climate change legislation.
At the same time, we are beginning to talk with Congressional staff about their availability to be on campus for various meetings, briefings, and tours. Please let us know if you are interested in inviting Members or their staff to campus for a particular event or if you would like to help organize a tour/briefing for your program area. We’re here and happy to help coordinate schedules so that we can maximize the time that Congressional staff will give us for these activities.
Christy Gullion, Director
Jul
19
In two short weeks, Members of Congress will flee Washington, DC and return to their home states for a 5-week summer break. The Senate will work one week longer, starting their summer recess period on August 7th. Both the House and the Senate have set lofty goals for the next two (or three) weeks, which makes this stretch one of the most intense periods so far in this session of Congress.
The House democrats just last week unveiled major portions of their health care reform proposal and have been moving at a pretty fast clip to approve the measures in three different committees before moving it to the floor for action sometime in the next two weeks. The Education & Labor and the Ways & Means committees both approved their portions of the bill last week, while the Energy & Commerce Committee will continue to debate their portions of the bill this coming week.
The Senate meanwhile has approved their health care reform proposal in the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, but the Finance Committee has not yet been able to come to agreement on how to finance the package. After failing to meet their deadline last week, they will try again to move legislation out of that committee this week. The sticking point appears to be how to find more Medicare and Medicaid cost-cutting measures and a mix of tax increases to pay for reform.
In addition to the efforts on health care reform, the House and Senate continue to make progress on their FY10 spending measures. The House has approved seven of the twelve bills, and will take up the Labor-HHS-Education and Transportation-HUD bills this week. The Senate has only approved two of the twelve bills, and will use the next three weeks to finish work on their remaining measures. Both the House and Senate seem motivated to complete work on the twelve bills before the August recess.
On Tuesday, the House Education and Labor Committee will begin marking up higher education legislation that would end a major student loan program. The bill, released last week, would end the Federal Family Education Loan program and originate all federally backed student loans through the Education Department’s Direct Lending Program. Some of the savings from this action would go toward increasing the amount of aid available to eligible students, as well as funding the President’s recently announced community college initiative.
Two different Senate committees – Agriculture and Environment & Public Works – will continue working on their portions of a climate and energy plan in anticipation of floor debate this fall (after the August recess). They will hear this week from Obama administration officials and governors – including WA State Governor Chris Gregoire.
With so much action in so many different subject areas, the Office of Federal Relations will be busy working with our congressional friends to push for those issues that will benefit the University — particularly as they relate to appropriations measures and competitive grant opportunities in the climate, energy, and health care bills. As we move through the next two to three weeks, please stay in touch and let us know if there are issues or bills that you’d like us to watch for you.
Christy Gullion, Director
Jun
18
On a rainy Wednesday evening in the nation’s capital, Members of Congress took the field at Nationals Park for the 48th Annual Roll Call Congressional Baseball Game for Charity. Democrats faced off against Republicans in a battle no less spirited than is typically seen on the Hill. Heading into the game, Republicans held an impressive 33-14 win-loss record. However, shaky Republican pitching and errors led the underdog Democrats to a 15-10 victory.
The game featured Washington’s own Rep. Adam Smith (9th Congressional District), Jay Inslee (1st Congressional District), and Brian Baird (3rd Congressional District). Congressman Smith sported his UW baseball uniform, drawing applause from the Huskies in the stands. Democrats took an early lead with a 6 run 2nd inning, featuring 3 lead off walks (one to Brian Baird) and more than 50 pitches from Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.). However, Republicans quickly answered with 6 runs of their own in the very next inning, off of several clutch hits. Tied at 6 in the bottom of the 3rd, the flood gates opened and Democrats scored 9 runs off of 5 walks, two base hits and error. The 15 runs put on the board by Democrats in the first three innings would be enough to secure their first victory in nearly a decade.
The game benefitted several DC area charities including the Washington Literacy Council and the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Washington.
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