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Author: Christy Gullion

Odds and Ends for the Week

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Student Loan Interest Rates:  Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell are getting close to a deal to prevent student loan rates from doubling on July 1st, from 3.4 percent up to 6.8 percent.  A deal could be announced as soon as today, although early next week seems more likely. The talks have centered on how to pay the roughly $6 billion it will cost to keep the interest rate on federal Stafford loans at 3.4 percent. Unless Congress intervenes, rates would increase to 6.8 percent starting July 1st. The list of options Reid and McConnell are considering include one favored by Reid that would tweak pension payment contributions by employers and increase premiums paid by businesses for Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. coverage. The House will evaluate the proposal once the Senate reaches a deal, but they will not yet confirm support for Reid’s proposed pay-for.

Highway and Transit Programs:  Transportation bill conferees are getting closer to a deal on legislation to reauthorize federal highway and transit programs. Congressional staff are expected to work through the weekend to try and hammer out a final agreement. When that is completed, some conferees will get back together on Tuesday when the House returns from a long weekend away. Lawmakers are racing against the clock as the current extension expires on June 30th, the same day that Congress is expected to recess for the Fourth of July week. It is expected that staff is also drafting a 6-month extension measure in case Congressional members cannot reach agreement on the larger reauthorization bill.

End-of-Year “Fiscal Cliff”:  The cuts through sequestration are just one of a number of high-profile fiscal issues that Congress will need to address after the November election. The Bush tax rates are set to expire at the end of the year, and it’s likely that Congress will have to raise the debt ceiling again. This is the same issue that faced Congress last August that put the Budget Control Act and sequestration in place. Both Democrats and Republicans have said publicly that they want to avert the across-the-board sequestration cuts, which would hit roughly $500 billion each to defense and non-defense discretionary spending over the next decade. But the two sides have been unable to reach a deal about how to find alternative deficit reduction to replace the cuts, as Republicans are opposed to raising taxes and Democrats are hesitant to cut entitlement spending.

Commerce Secretary to Resign

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Commerce Secretary John Bryson informed the department’s employees Thursday that he has given the president a letter of resignation. “I have come to the conclusion that I need to step down to prevent distractions from this critical mission,” Bryson said. Bryson had been on a medical leave of absence since June 11, following a seizure that resulted in his involvement in two car accidents.  Read Politico for more information.

SCOTUS to Rule on ACA

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The Supreme Court is set to release decisions this morning starting at 10:00am eastern time (right now!). The court still has 10 opinions to release, the health care law decision among them.  While it could come today, I’m guessing they’ll wait until next week.  While the decision won’t have a direct impact on UW, it will certainly create more havoc in Congress by adding another big legislative item to their already full agenda.

Stay tuned…

Energy Production Legislation Debated

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This morning the House will continue debate on the Strategic Energy Production Act of 2012 (HR 4480), which seeks to increase domestic oil and gas production and reduce regulation of the energy industry in order to reduce energy prices and boost economic growth. This measure is the result of compiling the text of 7 separate bills – two reported by the Energy and Commerce Committee and five reported by the Natural Resources Committee. The new comprehensive bill would delay implementation of certain EPA air quality and fuels regulations, and create an interagency committee to review the impact of EPA rules and regulations on energy prices and the broader economy. It also changes the management of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to require additional oil and gas leasing on federal public lands and waters commensurate with a release of the Reserve’s oil.

More specifically, the bill requires the Interior Department to develop a strategic plan for the nation’s energy needs over 30 years and set domestic production goals to meet demand; increases the amount of federal land available for energy production and streamlines the process for approving drilling permits; and sets new standards for judicial review of civil actions filed against energy lease sales or drilling permits.

Several amendments will be considered today, with a final vote predicted for this afternoon.

This Week in Congress

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The House was in recess last week, while the Senate kept itself busy with continued consideration of the “Farm Bill”. This bill authorizes agricultural research programs, as well as a host of other programs that support the US agriculture industry. The Senate Appropriations Committee also considered a few more spending bills, including the FYFiscal Year 2013 Financial Services spending bill and the FYFiscal Year 2013 Labor-HHS-Education bill, which funds the National Institutes of Health. Both the House and Senate will be in session this week, beginning the busy rush that will lead up to the 4th of July recess week.

Appropriations & the Sequester:  Having passed nearly half their annual spending bills, House appropriators return this week expecting to take on three additional FY 2013 measures:  Interior-Environment, Transportation-HUD, and Agriculture. However, slow-moving negotiations on a long-term surface transportation reauthorization (highway and transit programs) could force leaders to hold off on moving the spending bill for the departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which would provide $51.6 billion in discretionary funding.

Appropriators from both chambers are seeking answers from the Obama Administration on how it plans to carry out automatic spending cuts (sequester) early next year, as directed by the Budget Control Act approved last August.  Senate appropriators unanimously backed a recent provision that would require the administration to report to Congress with details about how the sequester would be applied. That provision in the Senate Financial Services Appropriation bill is nearly identical to language found in the House Financial Services draft bill. It would require the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which is funded under the measure, to send Congress a list of each account that would be subject to the automatic cuts, organized by appropriations subcommittee, within 60 days of enactment. It also would require the President to report within 30 days on how the sequester would be applied for FY 2013 based either on appropriations bills or the current rate of a continuing resolution (CR), if one is in effect.

Surface Transportation Negotiations:  House and Senate negotiators say they are still talking about a new surface transportation bill but the two chambers now face a serious schedule crunch. The House officially gets back to work this afternoon following a weeklong recess, which leaves just two weeks of work before the next scheduled recess period. With the two sides still so far apart on big issues, more observers now think Congress will have to extend current road and transit programs so they don’t expire at the end of this month.

The next two weeks is critical for lawmakers as they try to finish the highway bill, and at the same time they are negotiating final legislation on student loan interest rates, flood insurance, Food and Drug Administration user fees, and farm policy. And to add fuel to the fire, their attention could be diverted at any moment from a pending Supreme Court ruling on the Affordable Care Act.