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Category: Legislation

ESEA/NCLB Conference Finished, Vote in House Expected

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House and Senate conferees finished their work on an agreement to rewrite the No Child Left Behind law today. Members are hopeful that the conference package can clear both chambers by the end of the year. Both parties have been critical of the last reauthorization law (which renamed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to No Child Left Behind), which expired in 2007, for being overly prescriptive and limiting state and local agencies from prioritizing their needs. The Education Department has issued waivers from the law to many states, but also required states to adopt certain policies and standards pushed by the Obama administration. States losing their waivers, such as Washington State, has been a hot political issue.

Final legislative text is expected in the coming days, in order to give all members of Congress time to read the negotiated measure over the Thanksgiving break.

House Education and the Workforce Chairman John Kline (R-MN) who also led the conference committee, said he expects the House to vote on the package on Dec. 2 or Dec. 3. The Senate is expected to take up the measure after the House acts.

NDAA Passes in the House

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Today the House voted 370-58 to pass the revised fiscal 2016 defense authorization measure (S 1356) under suspension of the rules, an expedited process that requires a two-thirds majority for passage. A vote to override the president’s veto was slated for Thursday, but scrapped in favor of the new bill after House and Senate negotiators worked out a series of cuts to conform to a revised defense budget top line.

Obama vetoed the initial defense authorization bill (HR 1735), citing the inclusion of $38 billion in extra Overseas Contingency Operations funds to sidestep discretionary spending caps. A two-year budget agreement (HR 1314), signed by the president Monday, raised defense and non-defense spending caps by $25 billion each in fiscal 2016. The agreement also includes an extra $8 billion this year for defense spending through OCO.

The policy provisions of the new measure are unchanged but the bill reflects $5 billion in cuts to programs to conform to the two-year budget agreement, which came up short of the president’s request, and the original NDAA topline of $612 billion.

Senate Passes Budget Around 3 am

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The Senate cleared a bipartisan budget and debt limit accord early Friday morning which would send the legislation to the President’s desk. Roughly 72 hours after it was unveiled and buying roughly two years of relative budgetary stability after months of partisan sniping on spending, the Senate passed HR1314 shortly after 3 am. The House passed the measure Wednesday evening.

Just after  3 am, the upper chamber passed the deal by a vote of 64-35, roughly 90 minutes after voting to cut off debate on the legislation. Eighteen Republicans voted in favor of final passage, including Senate GOP Leadership, while 35 Republicans voted against the measure.  Forty-four Democrats and two independent senators who conference with Democrats backed the package. See the vote total here.

The budget deal would raise discretionary spending caps for defense and nondefense accounts by $80 billion above the sequester level for fiscal 2016 and fiscal 2017 and suspend the debt limit until March 15, 2017. The increased discretionary spending is offset with cuts to various entitlement programs and revenue raisers.

The President announced his support earlier this week.

Senate Approves Budget Deal, Sends to President to Sign

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Just after 3:00am Eastern, the Senate approved the two-year budget deal that the House agreed to on Wednesday without changes. With the deal headed to Obama’s desk — where he’s expected to sign it — lawmakers will now turn their attention to passing either 12 individual spending bills or one large omnibus bill.