July Federal Update

Posted on July 12, 2013

FY14 APPROPRIATIONS

The path to enacting FY14 appropriations measures is paved with legislative friction as Congress is showing no signs of undoing the sequester and the House and Senate chambers are working on vastly different overall budget numbers. At this point, there are three budgets — House, Senate, and White House — all of which assume no sequestration, but include different ways to account for the cuts in later years.

The House is advancing its FY14 appropriations bills at a $967 billion overall spending cap, while the Senate is working with a $1.058 trillion cap, which does not take into account the sequester. Ironically, both the House and Senate plans would trigger a new round of across-the-board spending reductions under sequestration because they violate the caps set by the 2011 Budget Control Act (PL 111-25). But the House GOP plan busts the caps in defense and other security measures while the Senate is expected to bust the caps in both defense and non-defense (domestic) bills. All of this is leading to a big fight on spending, which will certainly culminate in a continuing resolution (CR) before the federal fiscal year ends September 30th. Continue reading “July Federal Update”

Sequester: DoD to Start Civilian Furloughs

Posted on July 8, 2013July 8, 2013

Today, the Department of Defense (DoD) will begin implementing civilian furloughs to 650,000 civilian employees at installations across the country. The furloughs amount to a 20 percent cut in pay over the next three months. This means most furloughed employees face one day without pay for each week through the end of September.

Initially, the Pentagon projected that civilian employees would need to take 22 furlough days to meet its sequester targets. However, Secretary of Defense Hagel announced in May that the number would be reduced to 11 days.

Many federal agencies have managed to avoid furloughs and layoffs, but the DoD decided it could not meet the mandated cuts without them. The furloughs are projected to save approximately $1.8 billion

While furloughed, workers are prohibited from performing any work-related assignments while away from their jobs.

The furloughs could bolster the arguments of workers and lawmakers who oppose sequestration, tipping the scales against the automatic cuts. Or they could roll out with a whimper, further solidifying the cuts as a long-term fiscal reality for the Pentagon.

In other defense news, the Senate is beginning to focus on how the department will proceed in the next fiscal year.

Continue reading “Sequester: DoD to Start Civilian Furloughs”

House Begins Work on National Defense Authorization Bill

Posted on June 13, 2013June 14, 2013

The House will begin its work on the HR 1960, the National Defense Authorization Bill (NDAA) today. Consideration of the measure is expected to go through tomorrow. The NDAA is the yearly authorization bill that determines military priorities for agencies responsible for our national defense. The legislation establishes funding levels, and sets the policies under which money will be spent.

The bill authorizes $638.4 billion for the Pentagon and defense-related programs for FY 2014, including $85.8 billion for the war in Afghanistan and other overseas contingency activities. The bill’s authorization for regular defense funding is roughly equal to the president’s request but about $50 billion more than the projected post-sequestration cap for defense pursuant to the 2011 Budget Control Act. It authorizes $8 billion for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and requires the development of a new missile-defense site on the East Coast that the Pentagon does not want. It also bars the use of funds for planning any future rounds of military base closings, authorizes funds for new construction at the Guantánamo Bay detention center that the president wants to close and establishes new procedures to combat sexual assault in the military.

On June 11th, the White House issued a veto threat of the measure as it was currently written. The House Armed Services Committee passed the legislation on June 5th.

The House Rules Committee has approved a structured rule on Wednesday, which limits the amount of amendments that can be considered during the Floor debate. There will be 172 amendments (70 Republican, 68 Democratic, and 38 bipartisan) considered for 10 minutes each. Nearly 300 amendments were submitted to the House Rules committee to be offered during the Floor debate. The rule makes in order a number of amendments which address controversial proposals, ranging from the Guantánamo Bay detention center to overall spending levels that dramatically exceed the caps set by sequestration.

The House will begin consideration at noon today. Rep. Adam Smith (WA) is the Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee and will manage the bill for the Democrats.

The Office of Federal Relations will continue to monitor the progress of the bill.

Immigration, Defense Authorization, and FY14 Appropriations — Oh My!

Posted on June 12, 2013

Today in the Senate: The chamber meets this morning to continue debating a comprehensive overhaul of immigration laws (S 744).

Today in the House: The chamber is scheduled to begin general debate on a $638.4 billion defense authorization bill (HR 1960) for FY14 that includes funding and/or language for three of UW’s requests: (1) $15 million for awards to academic medical institutions for reconstructive transplants; (2) $15 million for Navy research vessels (to help with the RV Tommy Thompson); and (3) language promoting the National Marine Renewable Energy Centers for ocean renewable energy demonstration activities at or near DOD facilities (tidal energy).

FY14 Appropriations Update: Senate Republican appropriators appear ready to oppose any measures written by Democrats that exceed the discretionary spending cap set by the 2011 deficit reduction law. Next week, they will likely reject a plan from Appropriations Chairwoman Mikulski (D-MD) that would divide up $1.058 trillion among the committee’s dozen annual bills. The Senate plan is about $91 billion higher than the overall level set by House Republicans. Ironically, both plans would trigger a new round of across-the-board spending reductions under sequester because they violate the caps set by the 2011 law (PL 111-25). But the House GOP plan busts the caps in defense and other security measures while the Senate is expected to bust the caps in both defense and non-defense (domestic) bills. All of this is leading to a big fight on spending, which will certainly culminate in a continuing resolution (CR) before the federal fiscal year ends September 30^th.

Budget Update

Posted on June 10, 2013

Both the House and Senate are in session this week; just three more weeks of work before they break for the Fourth of July week. This week the House will take up the annual defense authorization bill, while the Senate completes work on its version of the farm bill and considers immigration legislation.

FY14 Appropriations: Last week the House passed its first two FY14 spending bills and should move another two by the end of this month. The House passed the Military Construction-VA and Homeland Security spending bills despite two veto threats, and Senate appropriators are set to mark up funding measures in the coming weeks. But the two chambers are operating off vastly different top-line budget numbers — given that the House and Senate haven’t come close to reaching a budget deal — meaning the measures may not come to the Senate floor and setting the stage for another stopgap spending bill this fall. At this point in the process, it appears that the House wants to pass the defense-related bills up front, leaving the later bills to be rolled up into a continuing resolution (CR) later in the year.

House appropriators are set to move two additional spending bills this week: Defense and Agriculture. House GOP leaders expect the bills on the floor before the July Fourth break. If those bills move through committee and pass the floor as expected, the House will have passed a quarter of its annual spending bills by the Fourth of July. The Senate, meanwhile, may not approve any of their spending bills before the break.

Debt Limit: Republicans continue to demand concessions in the form of deficit-reduction measures in return for increasing the government’s borrowing limit. Discussions are ongoing and there is still time to come to an agreement as the debt limit may not need to be addressed until this fall.