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Category: Congressional To Do

Results…and Still Counting

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There are still many races that are still too close to call this morning, which was expected. It happened in 2012, 2014 and 2016. It’s happened twice already this year.

That said, many races have been called. The Democrats have 220 seats, exactly two more seats than needed for a majority and a gain of 27 seats, while Republicans have 193. There are currently just over 30 House seats yet to be called; if the current leader in all of them ends up winning, the House will be 227 Democrats, 208 Republicans. House Democrats gained in states like New York, California, Kansas, Iowa, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, and Oklahoma.

The Republican majority in the Senate got stronger with wins in Indiana, Florida, and Missouri. In the Senate there are still two races outstanding in Montana and Arizona, while Mississippi is going to have a runoff. Republicans lead in both those races; if the current leader ends up winning, the Senate will have 46 Democrats, 54 Republicans. Democrats were always looking at a challenging year as they were defending more seats and many in conservative states.

Democrats made significant pickups across the nation at the Governor’s office gaining seats in Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, New Mexico, Nevada, Kansas, and Maine. If they current leader ends up winning, there will be 23 Democratic and 27 Republican governors.

In some contentious races, like in Georgia and Mississippi, there is a possibility that no candidate will receive a majority of votes, kicking in special rules to decide the election at a later date. Although currently Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp is running just barely above the total needed for a recount. Mississippi looks likely to head to a runoff.  Florida has also triggered an automatic recount between Senate candidates Sen. Ben Nelson (D) and Gov. Rick Scott (R).

In Washington state, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rogers (R-WA-05) defeated challenger Lisa Brown in a hotly contested race. Technically, two races are still outstanding this morning, but Rep. Jaime Herrera Beulter (R-WA-03) is expected to be re-elected and Dr. Kim Schier (D) is expected to be declared the winner over Dino Rossi to represent WA-08 in an open contest. Otherwise, the current Washington delegation was handily elected.

It’s Election Day!

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Happy Election Day!

In a much hyped and talked about mid-term election, Americans are going to the polls for some exciting local and national races. Will the Democrats win the House? How many new Members of Congress will Washington state have? Will the Republicans gain seats in the Senate? Will most of our nation’s governors be in the Democratic party? We will start to find out tonight. However, given the peculiarities and peccadilloes of each state’s elections laws, we might not know who has won many elections for weeks.

Washington state has some very interesting races being watched on the national stage, and with Congressman Reichert’s retirement, we will have at least one new Member of Congress representing WA-08. Track the results for all Washington races here.

For national races, the New York Times will has it’s very popular Needle on their home page tracking election results again this year.  CNN will also have live updates. The Washington Post also has a fun tracker. Do not expect poll returns until later in the day. The Times has a story on when polls close.

For those of you that have been intensely interested in this election (Beto! Stacey Abrams! Dino Rossi!)  just keep in mind, the forecasts and models were very wrong last year.  It’s raining in every state east of the Mississippi River, and that’s sure to impact turnout.

For those intensely interested in what’s happening across the country at every level, here’s a handy-dandy election tracker that has all high-target political races this election.

 

Federal Relations will update this post as necessary throughout the day and have an election recap tomorrow.

 

 

 

EPA Administrator Resigns

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President Donald Trump tweeted today that he has accepted the resignation of EPA chief Scott Pruitt. Pruitt had been the subject of numerous ethics investigations involving his travel, spending, use of staff, and favors by industry lobbyists.

The agency’s Deputy Administrator, Andrew Wheeler, will act as the agency’s leader until a new administrator is nominated by Mr. Trump and confirmed by the Senate.

Text of FY2018 Omnibus Released

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The House Appropriations Committee has released text of the fiscal year 2018 omnibus spending bill. The House could vote as early as Thursday on the package. The House Rules Committee is expected to meet Wednesday night to report the bill to the floor for debate and a vote. The House typically observes a three-day rule before considering any legislation, but the House is expected waive to that provision and vote as early as Thursday.

After the House votes, the measure will be ready for Senate action, which must happen Friday, before current stopgap spending (PL 115-123) expires Friday.

The 2,232-page measure will be added as an amendment to an unrelated bill (HR 1625).

Failure to approve the measure by midnight Friday, without passing another stopgap in its place, would lead to another partial shutdown just before lawmakers were scheduled to depart for a two-week recess.

The text of the legislation can be found here. 

Federal Relations is reviewing the measure and will provide updates.

Current known highlights include:

National Institutes of Health (NIH) is funded at $37 billion (an increase of $3 billion above the fiscal year 2017 enacted level). Within the total, the legislation includes $300 million for the Cancer Moonshot and $12.6 million for the Gabriella Miller “Kids First” pediatric cancer research initiative. The bill supports a new multi-year Down syndrome research initiative that will expand NIH support for research on Trisomy 21 and related diseases and disorders. The bill also includes a provision requiring NIH to continue reimbursing grantee research institutions for facilities and administrative costs.

  • $1.8 billion (+$414 million) for Alzheimer’s disease research,
  • $400 million (+$140 million) for the Brain Research through Application of Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) initiative,
  • $290 million (+$60 million) for the All of Us research initiative (formerly called the Precision Medicine Initiative),
  • $10 million (+$8 million) for regenerative medicine research,
  • $100 million (+$40 million) for research to develop a universal flu vaccine,
  • $351 million (+17 million) for research on combating antibiotic-resistant bacteria,
  • $543 million (+27 million) for Clinical and Translational Science Awards, and
  • $351 million (+$17 million) for Institutional Development Awards (IDeA)

CDC is funded at $8.3 billion (an increase of $1.1 billion above the fiscal year 2017 level). Funding within the CDC includes $1.45 billion for CDC’s Public Health Preparedness and Response programs – an increase of $45 million. This will ensure that the Strategic National Stockpile and State and Local Preparedness capacity are adequate.

Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) is funded at $7 billion ($550 million above the fiscal year 2017 enacted level).

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is funded $334 million ($10 million above the fiscal year 2017 enacted level).

Department of Education is funded at $70.9 billion ($2.6 billion above the fiscal year 2017 enacted level). The maximum Pell Grant award is increased to $6,095, funded by a combination of discretionary and mandatory funds. TRIO and GEAR UP programs are increased by $60 million and $10 million, respectively, bringing TRIO programs to a total of $1.01 billion and GEAR UP to a total of $350 million.

NSF is funded at $7.8 billion ($295 million above the fiscal year 2017 enacted level). Research and related activities are funded at $6.3 billion ($301 million above the current level).

NASA is funded at $20.7 billion, $1.1 billion above the 2017 enacted level, including $4.8 billion for Exploration ($466 million above the fiscal year 2017 enacted level) and $6.2 billion for NASA Science programs ($457 million above the fiscal year 2017 enacted level).

NOAA is funded at $5.9 billion ($234 million above the fiscal year 2017 level).

EPA funding is frozen at the fiscal year 2017 enacted level of $8.1 billion. Within this total, EPA’s regulatory programs are reduced by $23.5 million below the current level. EPA’s staffing levels have been reduced by 650 positions over the last year, and are presently at 14,172 positions. Overall staffing has been reduced by 3,106 positions since fiscal year 2010.

USGS receives $1.1 billion for the USGS ($63 million above the fiscal year 2017 enacted level). Funding is targeted to critical infrastructure investments in natural hazards programs, streamgages, the groundwater monitoring network, and mapping activities. The bill includes $23 million for an earthquake early warning system to help save lives during natural disasters, and $26 million to fully fund the development of “Landsat 9” – a satellite program that provides land use measurements that are important to local communities for agriculture, forestry, energy and water resource decisions.