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Category: Appropriations

They’re BACK & 21st Century Cures to be Considered by the House

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Congress is back today for the remainder of its lame-duck session. While both the House and Senate are slated to be in session until December 16, Republicans appear content to run out the clock until President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in on January 20, which could make for a much shorter and less eventful lame duck session.

Congress still has a handful of legislative priorities to take care of before the end of this Congress, including passing a final National Defense Authorization Act and a government funding bill. The final fiscal 2017 defense policy bill could surface as early as this week. Once finalized, a conference report must be signed by House and Senate negotiators before final floor consideration in both chambers.

The compromise NDAA is expected to ditch contentious riders, including provisions on the greater sage grouse and workplace protections based on sexual orientation. It’s also expected to include $9 billion on top of the Pentagon’s budget request, incorporating the Administration’s $5.8 billion war supplemental request the Obama Administration submitted to Congress on November 10, as well as funding to cover military readiness shortfalls.

It’s still all about the money.  

Additionally, Congress needs to pass a spending bill to fund government by the December 9 to avoid a shutdown. Republican leaders decided before Thanksgiving to move a new continuing resolution (CR) through March, allowing Trump to put his mark on federal spending during his first year in office. Meanwhile, Appropriators and Congressional leadership continue to wrestle with an exact date in March to end the CR as well as if to include the supplemental funding requested by the Obama Administration. 

Agenda for the Week

In the House, lawmakers will consider a compromise bill seeking to spur efforts on medical innovation. A new version of the 21st Century Cures measure (HR 6) emerged on Friday after private negotiations among bill supporters and is headed toward a House vote on Wednesday of this week. House Members passed the original bill in 2015, but Senators were unable to complete the assembly their own bill.

The newly revised version tweaks funding, offsets and other provisions of the package seeking to revamp Food and Drug Administration procedures for approving new drugs and boosting biomedical research efforts of the National Institutes of Health.

The main order of business on the Senate floor is a bill that would study expanding a program to provide specialized medical treatments to rural and medically underserved communities.

Lame Duck Priorities

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Congress is scheduled to return next week for a Lame Duck session of Congress and many items still remain on the 2016 agenda before Trump takes office, including wrapping up the 11 remaining FY 2017 spending bills and a 21st Century Cures bill that both Majority Leader McConnell and Speaker Ryan said was a priority for passage in the Lame Duck session.  While President-elect Trump won’t be signing any bills in the lame duck, he will influence decisions on how to wrap up the 114th Congress.

While it is too soon to tell whether or not Congress will try to address its remaining legislative business in a Lame Duck session of Congress, or wait until President-elect Trump is sworn in on January 20 and Republicans control both the House and the Senate, a few things are fairly certain, dealing with the FY 2017 and the 21st Century Cures bill will be the Lame Duck priories.

FY 2017, Finishing the Fiscal Year

The current Continuing Resolution keeping the federal government open expires on December 9.  Prior to the elections, Republican leaders expressed support for passing a series of “minibuses” that would group appropriations bills together, while Democrats were leaning toward an omnibus bill that would include all of the remaining FY 2017 bills.  House Appropriations Committee Chair Rogers (R-KY) has said no decisions have been made yet on the process, but as of today, the House Appropriations Committee has put conference negotiations on hold pending further analysis.

However, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said this week that funding the government remains a top priority heading into the lame duck and that lawmakers will wrap up spending bills this year rather than punt to the next Congress via another stopgap spending bill. McConnell said he plans to talk to House Speaker Paul Ryan and President Obama about how the FY 2017 bills could be enacted, but gave little in the way of specifics on how this would be accomplished.

That plan, though, was criticized by conservative House Freedom Caucus prior to the election as the Caucus continues to pushing for a continuing resolution to extend government funding into the next calendar year so that congressional Republicans can negotiate a spending package with Trump rather than Obama.

Must Pass? Should Pass? Legislation

Additionally, outstanding legislative priorities include the 21st Century Cures medical innovation package and mental health reform.  The Cures package is a particular priority of House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Upton (R-MI), who is term limited as Chair. Upton has been vocal on having a package on the House floor next week when the House returned to session.  However, it’s unclear if the measure will be considered. Prior to the election, Democrats voiced wanting the mandatory funding for the National Institutes of Health in the bill, but also expressed desires to insert prescription drug controls and concerns about offsets. In addition, bringing a large mandatory spending bill to the floor may not help Ryan keep his speakership with his contentious caucus.

Several other issues remain before Congress, including the FY2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which has seen some hiccups this year, but must pass annually. Also in limbo is the Water Resources and Development Act (WRDA), which passed the House and Senate respectively and is currently being conferenced.

Trade

The 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, which was a priority for The Obama Administration in the Lame Duck, will not be considered, according to House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX).  It will remain ”on hold” until President-elect Donald Trump decides whether to take action on the agreement in the next Congress.

SCOTUS

Supreme Court Justice Nominee Merrick Garland will not receive a confirmation hearing or a vote.  With the Senate remaining in Republican control, it will wait for President Trump to submit a new nominee for the Supreme Court after he is sworn in on January 20, 2017.

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At this juncture, there are two likely scenarios for Congress to deal with these issues, and the outlook will be clearer in the coming days.

Clear the Decks

Under this scenario, President-elect Trump would indicate to Congress that he would like them to complete as much business as possible in the remaining days of the 114th Congress.  This would free up both President Trump, and the 115th Congress to focus on his priorities during the first 100 days of his Administration, as well as big-picture items such as a Supreme Court nomination and the debt-ceiling (which could be reached as early as March 2017).  This path would require some degree of cooperation from both the Obama Administration and the conservative element of the Republican conference.

Punting

The second scenario would be for Congress to push off all but must-do issues until after President-Elect Trump is sworn in.  Because Republicans would control both chambers of Congress and the White House, they would, in theory, have the ability to include more of their priorities in these bills before passage.  The risk in this scenario is that it bogs down the new Administration during their first days in office, at which time they will want to unveil new policy ideas, and when they have the most political capital to see those ideas to fruition.

 

Obama Signs CR, Everyone Now Focuses on Campaigning

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Today, President Obama signed the much debated and negotiated continuing resolution into law. The CR will fund the government until December 9th and will fully fund the FY 2017 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs programs. It further includes $1.1 billion in Zika response funding, $500 million for flood relief in Louisiana and other states.

The CR was cleared by the House on Wednesday night on a 342-85 vote and earlier in the day was passed by the Senate, 72-26.

The legislation extends government funding until December 9, which is when lawmakers are expected to be in Washington for a lame-duck session after the election. The passage and enactment allows the House and Senate to focus on political campaigns for the month of October.

Late Votes, Last Minute Save

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With almost two days to spare, the House passed a 10-week stopgap spending bill, passed by the Senate earlier today, that would prevent a government shutdown at the end of this week. The measure passed the House by a vote of 342-85.

As previously mentioned, the measure generally provides continued funding for federal government operations through December 9 at existing levels. There were FY 2016 adjustments for FY 2017, including increase funding to address the opioid epidemic. The measure also provides $500 million in emergency supplemental funding for initial disaster response efforts to severe flooding in Louisiana and other states. It provides $1.1 billion in supplemental funding for activities in response to the Zika virus, including $933 million in domestic funding and roughly $175 million in international funding, with approximately $400 million of the total being offset. Finally, the CR provides full-year FY 2017 appropriations for military construction and for the VA Department, and is identical to the Military Construction-VA appropriations agreement reached in June between House and Senate conferees.

The White House earlier today announced its support for the CR/Zika package.

With that, the House and Senate have voted to keep the government open and operating until December 9th. The bill goes to the President’s desk to be signed, and Congress leaves town to go get reelected.