Skip to content
News and updates

Category: Legislation

White House Threatens Veto for NDAA

Posted on

The House is expected to consider HR 4904, the FY2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) this week, and last night, in advance of that consideration, the Administration issued a Statement of Administrative Policy (SAP) threatening to veto the measure. The White House objects to the NDAA saying the legislation for shifting billions in war funds to support unrequested base Pentagon programs, arguing the maneuver “attempts to unravel” last fall’s two-year budget agreement that raised caps on both defense and domestic spending.

The annual measure, which is required yearly to direct the Department of Defense on larger policy and operations, is no stranger to controversy. The House’s version of the FY2017 NDAA shifts more than $23 billion in war-related Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) funds to the Pentagon’s base budget and leaves enough funding to support military contingencies only through next April. The House Committees have previously used the OCO accounts as a means to circumvent the sequester caps, since the OCO accounts were expressly exempted from the Sequester. 

Additionally, the House Rules Committee crafted a rule to remove a provision in the NDAA that requires women ages 18 to 26 register for the military draft without debate or a vote. The Rules Committee accepted an amendment by Committee Chairman Pete Sessions (R-TX) to remove the provision and study the Selective Service System. In a procedural twist, Sessions’ amendment is “considered as adopted,” meaning the provision will be automatically stripped from the bill when the full House adopts the broad rule for debate Tuesday, as expected.

The House is expected to pass the NDAA this week.

Read the SAP on the House NDAA here. 

Veto Threat on Senate’s FY2017 T-HUD/Mil-Con Package

Posted on

The White House issued a Statement of Administrative Policy (SAP) today threatening to veto the FY2017 T-HUD/Mil-Con package the Senate is expected to consider this week.

While, the language in the SAP does not link the veto threat to any particular policy provision in the bill under consideration, which is similar to the open-ended veto threat issued by the Administration as the Senate took up its first appropriations measure, the FY2017 E&W spending bill, the SAP criticizes “problematic ideological provisions” in the legislation, including restrictions on funding related to the Guantanamo Bay detention center. 

House Starts Moving Appropriations Bills

Posted on

House Leadership is bringing its first FY2017 appropriations bill to the Floor this week with the FY2017 Military Construction (Mil-Con) appropriations bill. Since the House failed to pass a FY2017 Budget resolution before the April 15th statutory deadline, House Appropriators have been required to wait until May 15th to begin to bring funding measures forward.  The House is expected to consider the FY2017 Mil-Con bill, which is considered the least controversial measure, as well as a supplemental appropriations bill providing Zika funding.

The Senate, meanwhile, is also considering supplemental funding for Zika, but has been well in advance of the House in considering the 12 annual appropriations bills.

More Movement on Appropriations

Posted on

The House and Senate will continue to work on fiscal year 2017 funding bills next week. Both the House and Senate are expected to take up, very different, Zika funding packages next week.  While the Senate will likely to vote to accept a $1.1 billion emergency package, the House plans to vote on a bill that provides less than that but the exact amount the House is willing to provide is not yet clear. Additionally, the House bill will include off-sets and will only provide funding through Sept. 30, the end of FY 2016, unlike the Senate package.  The House has announced that the FY 2017 Labor-H package will include Zika funding. 

Next week, the full House Appropriations Committee markup of the FY 2017 Defense and Legislative Branch appropriations bills, while the respective subcommittees will mark up the FY 2017 CJS and T-HUD bills.  The Senate Appropriations Committee will mark up the FY 2017 Ag and Legislative Branch bills.

More Senate Approps Movement (E&W, T-HUD, Mil-Con, Zika)

Posted on

Today, the Senate has passed its first Energy & Water appropriations bill under regular order since 2009. The failure of Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) Iran amendment broke up the logjam for both the FY 2017 E&W and will allow the upper chamber to consider both the FY 2017 Transportation and HUD (T-HUD) and FY 2017 Military Construction-VA (Mil-Con) bills in one combination bill next week. 

The $37.5 billion FY 2017 Energy-Water bill moved into express mode after Senators reached a unanimous consent agreement to bypass procedural floor votes and waive cloture debate time.  The T-HUD and Mil-Con bills combined make up $139.5 billion in discretionary spending, about 13 percent of the total $1.07 trillion in discretionary funding made available for FY 2017 under last year’s bipartisan budget deal. However, don’t expect smooth sailing for the Senate consideration going forward. Last year’s T-HUD bill, endured efforts to restrict funding on Mid Eastern Refugee housing, similar to Senator Cotton’s amendment. Such amendments are known as  “poison pills”. 

Also today, Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) announced a bipartisan $1.1 billion Zika package. The White House has said that it wants $1.9 billion to fight the mosquito virus, which is spreading virulently and causing birth defects. The supplemental funding is expected to be added, via amendment, to the T-HUD, Mil-Con package considered next week.