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Category: Administration

Zika Blocked In Senate

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The Senate blocked a plan Tuesday to spend $1.1. billion to fight the Zika virus, as Democrats objected to added provisions that would limit funding for birth control, allow pesticide spraying near water sources, and raise the Confederate flag. Democrats asserted there were not included in the conference negotiation process to craft the conference report.

The Senate failed invoke cloture on the conference report for an appropriations package containing $1.1 billion to combat the Zika virus and $82.5 billion in FY 2017 Military Construction-VA discretionary spending.

Sixty votes were needed to cut off debate and move toward a final vote on the House-passed conference report, which faced a presidential veto if it passed. It’s unclear if House and Senate negotiators will resume work to write a new measure that is acceptable to both chambers and the White House, following bitter exchanges between Democrats and Republicans during the past few days.

White House Issues Veto Threat of Senate’s NDAA

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In a Statement of Administration Policy issued by the Office of Management and Budget, the White House issued a veto threat on the Senate NDAA and contends the legislation would “hinder” the administration from executing defense and foreign policy.

“Specifically, the bill attempts to micromanage DoD by impeding the department’s ability to respond to changing circumstances, directing overly prescriptive organizational changes, preventing the closure of Guantanamo and limiting U.S. engagement with Cuba, and includes provisions that set an arbitrary limit on the size of the president’s National Security Council staff,” the White House said.

The veto threat comes during the second full day of Senate floor debate on the annual policy bill.

Last month, the White House similarly threatened a veto of the House version of the bill.

House and Senate Agree to Conference Zika Funding Bills

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Today, the House voted 233-180 Thursday for a rule that would allow the chamber go to conference with the Senate over differences in the two chambers’ respective versions of their FY2017 Mil-Con appropriations measures as well as legislation to address the Zika virus. The Senate will also need to agree to go to conference.

The House and Senate has vastly different approaches to Zika funding. The House funding was a separate measure, which only provided $622 million and passed on a largely party-line vote of 241-184 while garnering a veto threat from President Obama because it provides less than a third of his $1.9 billion request. The Senate included $1.1 billion, again less than the $1.9 billion requested, and was attached to the Senate’s FY2017 Mil-Con and T-HUD combined measure. 

Once convened the House and Senate have a limited amount of time to resolve their differences.

House FY2016 E&W Fails on the Floor

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Earlier today, House’s FY2017 Energy and Water Appropriations bill (HR 5055) failed by a vote of 112-305. It is the second regular appropriations bill to be considered by the House this year. The first was the FY2017 Mil-Con measure, which passed last week.

The measure failed to pass due to a series of amendments that poisoned the bill for both Republicans and Democrats. For the Democrats, there were a host of provisions added that dealt  illegal immigration “sanctuary cities” and the Iran nuclear deal among others. Additionally, the President had previously issued a veto threat on the measure over several policy riders, including ones that ease protections for an endangered fish to allow more water to be diverted within drought-stricken California as well as provisions to prevent implementation of Clean Water Act regulations..

The damning amendment for conservative Republicans was an added last night by Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY) and passed by a vote of 223-195, which would bar federal contractors from discriminating against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.The Maloney amendment was first offered on the House FY2017 Mil-Con bill, which appeared to pass 217-206, but ultimately was defeated after the Leadership’s effort switched enough Republican votes to defeat the measure, 212-213. Many House Republicans opposed the amendment because it would have the effect of enacting into law a 2014 Executive Order by President Barack Obama.

Upon the amendment’s failure on the FY2017 Mil-Con bill, Rep. Maloney insisted he would continue to offer the amendment, or similar to each subsequent appropriations measure. This position lead to the House Republicans changing their tactics on future appropriations considered on the Floor, but not until after the HR5055, the FY2017 E&W bill was already on the Floor for consideration.

Ultimately, just 106 Republicans voted in favor of the bill, while 130 voted against it. There were only six Democratic votes in favor as well, with 175 opposed.

With the failure of the bill, the House recessed for the Memorial Day Recess period.

White House Threaten Veto on House FY 2017 E&W Bill

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This week, the House is expected to consider on the House Floor HR 5055, Energy and Water Appropriations for FY 2017. The bill provides a total of $37.4 billion in funding subject to discretionary caps for FY 2017 for the Energy Department and federal water projects, $259 million more than comparable FY 2016 funding and $168 million more than requested. On a programmatic level, after factoring out rescissions and other scorekeeping adjustments, it provides a total of $37.7 billion to the departments and agencies funded by the measure, $350 million more than the current level and $88 million more than requested. Compared with current funding, the measure increases funding for the Army Corps of Engineers by 2%, nuclear weapons activities by 4% and fossil fuels energy research by 2%. It decreases funding for nuclear nonproliferation programs by 6%, the Bureau of Reclamation by 10% and research on renewable-energy programs by 12%.

The White House has issued a veto threat though a Statement of Administrative Policy (SAP) late yesterday. The Administration cites the failure to adequately or robustly fund energy research accounts. This is not the first, nor likely the last veto threat of the fiscal year.

Read the SAP here.