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Category: Legislation

House Scraps ACA Vote, House and Senate Pass One Week CR

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Late last night, House Republican leadership decided to forego a vote on the ACA amendment by Rep. Tom MacArthur circulated earlier this week. MacArthur, who is the leader of the moderate Republican Tuesday Group, would shift how individuals with preexisting conditions are insured to the states. The amendment won the support of the conservative House Freedom Caucus by loosening insurance mandates, but didn’t gain many moderates. Additionally, the House Democrats announced that if the House voted on the amendment, Democrats would all vote against the much-needed, short-term CR to keep the government open though midnight Friday.

This morning, the House of Representatives passed the one-week CR to keep the government operating. It is an necessary step to avert a shutdown as negotiators continue to work on an agreement to extend funding through the remainder of the year via an omnibus appropriations measure.

The Senate unanimously passed a stopgap spending bill, about an hour after the measure was overwhelmingly approved by the House.

The bill funds the government for one week, avoiding a government shutdown at midnight. Lawmakers plan to pass a broader spending package next week to fund the government through September.

Another Short-Term Funding Measure Unveiled

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In order to buy more time for the two parties, the two chambers, and Congress and the White House to negotiate with each other on a spending package for the remainder of FY2017, Congressional leaders have unveiled a short-term measure that would keep the government funded for another week. Without an extension, the current funding agreement expires at midnight this Saturday.

The short-term measure would extend funding through next Friday, May 5.

OMB Director Mulvaney Pushing for Sanctuary City Language in FY2017

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OMB Director Mick Mulvaney is pushing House lawmakers to include language in the FY2017 omnibus appropriations bill to restrict federal funding grants for cities that do not enforce federal immigration policies. The goal is to bring the House Freedom Caucus on board with a government funding bill.

Such a provision, known as a rider, would put the already delicate negotiations under further strain, as Congressional Republicans already struggle to deal with the Administration’s supplemental request to begin building a border wall. A rider prohibiting federal funds from going to sanctuary cities would guarantee zero Democratic support.  

Despite recent changes to the Senate rules regarding confirming Supreme Court Justices, the Senate will need 60 votes to move forward with any appropriations bill and Senate Republicans are only 52 votes. 

When Congress returns on April 25th from its two-week recess for Passover and Easter, it will have 4 legislative days to pass some vehicle (an omnibus or another CR) for FY2017 funding or risk a shutdown.

Stay tuned.

Drama Continues in Congress

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With the full House currently scheduled to take up the Obamacare repeal-and-replace healthcare bill later today, as of this writing, it still remains uncertain as to whether the White House and the House Republican leadership have been able to convince enough holdouts to get the legislation across the finish line. Many sources report that negotiations between many of the conservative opponents and the White House and the leadership continued throughout yesterday and last evening. At the same time, there are also reports that many of the concessions which may have been offered to the conservatives may have, in turn, alienated some of the moderates who were uneasy about the underlying legislation.

The situation on this front remains fluid and the Office of Federal Relations continues to monitor the situation.

On the other side of the Capitol today, the Senate Judiciary Committee will continue its questioning of Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch. The confirmation hearing is expected to wrap up this week, with the committee voting on his nomination in early April.

Also taking place today is the Senate Agriculture Committee’s confirmation hearing for Agriculture Secretary nominee Sonny Perdue, the former governor of Georgia.

NASA Transition Authorization Bill Signed Into Law

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Earlier today, the NASA Transition Authorization of 2017 was signed into law by President Trump. The bipartisan bill was adopted unanimously in both chambers of Congress. Historically, different presidential Administrations have sought to emphasize different areas of the agency’s broad mission and expertise, and the legislation was an attempt, in part, to provide stability for NASA during the first part of the transition to this Administration.