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Category: On the Hill

Update from Washington, DC

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With the House gone for its August recess, the Senate will turn its attention this week to passing one more spending bill, replenishing the popular Cash for Clunkers program, and confirming President Obama’s pick for the Supreme Court, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, all with the aim to leave town Friday until after Labor Day.

APPROPRIATIONS

As Congress prepares to leave for August recess, the House, which adjourned last week, has completed work on all 12 appropriations bills, and the Senate is expected to be a third of the way done when it departs Friday.  The Senate will consider its Agriculture spending measure this week.  With Senate passage of the Agriculture bill this week, the Senate will have passed four of its bills.

The Senate plans to continue floor consideration of spending bills in September, and leaders would like to get a handful of spending bills enacted before the Oct. 1 start of federal fiscal year 2010.  A continuing resolution will be needed to fund most government agencies when the new fiscal year arrives.  Democrats remain intent on enacting all 12 spending bills individually, and avoiding a massive multi-bill omnibus spending measure, as has so often been the result over the past 14 years. 

The House and Senate will begin informal and then formal conference committee negotiations to work out the differences between their spending measures.  The Office of Federal Relations will continue to advocate for funding priorities that affect the University of Washington, including congressionally-directed funding and specific programmatic (agency) funding.

HEALTH

The six Senate Finance Committee members negotiating a bipartisan healthcare overhaul bill will meet throughout the week, but will not hold a markup on any overhaul measure.  While they keep reporting that the group is making progress, no one has seen a proposal on paper.  One provision that appears close to a final decision is an insurance co-op in lieu of a public option.  The public option issue will likely be hotly debated when Congress returns to DC in September. 

The House meanwhile may be on recess, but lawmakers working on a health care overhaul still have a lot of work to do over the break to prepare to pass legislation when they return.  Democratic leaders and committee chairs will have to find a way to resolve differences in the versions of the bill approved by two committees – Education and Labor and Ways and Means – and a compromise measure approved just before the House recessed last week by the Energy and Commerce Committee that includes proposals crafted with moderate Democrats on the panel who had opposed the original bill over cost concerns.

The House is looking now to pass the bill in mid-September, a few days after Congress reconvenes. 

AUGUST RECESS

House Members have already started their August recess, with many of them back in their home states/districts.  The Senate will follow after they complete their work this week.  The WA State Delegation will spend the recess period holding town hall meetings, attending forums, and meeting with community leaders and constituent groups – with a focus on health care reform, Recovery Act implementation, and climate issues.  Many of the DC staff from these offices will be in the state, and I am arranging for several of these staff to be on campus to learn more about our priorities as they relate to the federal government. 

I will be on campus from August 19 through September 4, and am currently scheduling meetings with faculty and staff to discuss on-going University projects and issues.  The Office of Federal Relations is also gearing up on the development of our FY2011 Federal Agenda.  This agenda will likely include a continued focus on obtaining Recovery Act funding, as well as identifying new research opportunities through health care reform and climate legislation.  Additionally, we are beginning to discuss priorities for FY2011 congressionally-directed funding requests.

Please let me know if you would like to meet with me during the time I’m on campus – either to discuss the current FY2010 process, the upcoming FY2011 Federal Agenda development, or any other issue that has some federal nexus and needs some attention by the Office of Federal Relations. 

Christy Gullion, Director

Update from Washington, DC

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Congress started off this week with the goal of advancing health care reform financing options in preparation for an overall vote on reform measures before their August recess.  By the end of the week, however, it became clear to House and Senate leaders – as well as the President – that they would not meet that deadline.  Instead they plan to continue negotiations through August and into September when they will try again to garner the votes they need to pass a comprehensive health care reform measure.  

This slight “slow down” has allowed everyone to catch their breath and focus on completing the remaining FY10 spending bills. 

The House is currently debating the Labor-HHS-Education spending bill on the floor and will likely vote on that final measure later today.  This follows the passage of the Transportation-HUD bill yesterday.  This leaves the FY10 Defense bill as the final spending measure in front of the House, which they will take action on next week. 

The Senate, meanwhile, continues to trail the House in their progress on spending measures.  On Monday they will take up the FY10 Energy & Water bill followed by action on their Agriculture and Military Construction-VA bills.  In addition to the Senate floor action on Energy-Water, the Senate Appropriations Committee next week plans to mark up another two of its bills: Transportation-HUD and Labor-HHS-Education. That will leave just Defense, which may not occur until after the August recess. 

The House and Senate will also continue negotiations over climate legislation.  The urgency on this issue is not as intense as it has been on health care reform and several members on both sides of the aisle seem to agree that this legislation will move after health care – sometime in the fall.  

While the Office of Federal Relations continues to monitor progress on all of these fronts, we are also beginning to look forward to August when many of our Delegation Members and their staff will return to the state.  They will likely focus their activities on meetings and other events focused on the current health care debate as well as continuing to seek feedback from constituencies on how best to craft climate change legislation.  

At the same time, we are beginning to talk with Congressional staff about their availability to be on campus for various meetings, briefings, and tours.  Please let us know if you are interested in inviting Members or their staff to campus for a particular event or if you would like to help organize a tour/briefing for your program area.  We’re here and happy to help coordinate schedules so that we can maximize the time that Congressional staff will give us for these activities.

Christy Gullion, Director

Update from Washington, DC

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In two short weeks, Members of Congress will flee Washington, DC and return to their home states for a 5-week summer break.  The Senate will work one week longer, starting their summer recess period on August 7th.  Both the House and the Senate have set lofty goals for the next two (or three) weeks, which makes this stretch one of the most intense periods so far in this session of Congress.  

The House democrats just last week unveiled major portions of their health care reform proposal and have been moving at a pretty fast clip to approve the measures in three different committees before moving it to the floor for action sometime in the next two weeks.  The Education & Labor and the Ways & Means committees both approved their portions of the bill last week, while the Energy & Commerce Committee will continue to debate their portions of the bill this coming week.                        

The Senate meanwhile has approved their health care reform proposal in the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, but the Finance Committee has not yet been able to come to agreement on how to finance the package.  After failing to meet their deadline last week, they will try again to move legislation out of that committee this week.  The sticking point appears to be how to find more Medicare and Medicaid cost-cutting measures and a mix of tax increases to pay for reform.

In addition to the efforts on health care reform, the House and Senate continue to make progress on their FY10 spending measures.  The House has approved seven of the twelve bills, and will take up the Labor-HHS-Education and Transportation-HUD bills this week.  The Senate has only approved two of the twelve bills, and will use the next three weeks to finish work on their remaining measures.  Both the House and Senate seem motivated to complete work on the twelve bills before the August recess. 

On Tuesday, the House Education and Labor Committee will begin marking up higher education legislation that would end a major student loan program.  The bill, released last week, would end the Federal Family Education Loan program and originate all federally backed student loans through the Education Department’s Direct Lending Program.  Some of the savings from this action would go toward increasing the amount of aid available to eligible students, as well as funding the President’s recently announced community college initiative.

Two different Senate committees – Agriculture and Environment & Public Works – will continue working on their portions of a climate and energy plan in anticipation of floor debate this fall (after the August recess).  They will hear this week from Obama administration officials and governors – including WA State Governor Chris Gregoire.

With so much action in so many different subject areas, the Office of Federal Relations will be busy working with our congressional friends to push for those issues that will benefit the University — particularly as they relate to appropriations measures and competitive grant opportunities in the climate, energy, and health care bills.  As we move through the next two to three weeks, please stay in touch and let us know if there are issues or bills that you’d like us to watch for you.

Christy Gullion, Director

WA Members Participate in Baseball Game for Charity

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On a rainy Wednesday evening in the nation’s capital, Members of Congress took the field at Nationals Park for the 48th Annual Roll Call Congressional Baseball Game for Charity. Democrats faced off against Republicans in a battle no less spirited than is typically seen on the Hill. Heading into the game, Republicans held an impressive 33-14 win-loss record. However, shaky Republican pitching and errors led the underdog Democrats to a 15-10 victory.

The game featured Washington’s own Rep. Adam Smith (9th Congressional District), Jay Inslee (1st Congressional District), and Brian Baird (3rd Congressional District). Congressman Smith sported his UW baseball uniform, drawing applause from the Huskies in the stands. Democrats took an early lead with a 6 run 2nd inning, featuring 3 lead off walks (one to Brian Baird) and more than 50 pitches from Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.). However, Republicans quickly answered with 6 runs of their own in the very next inning, off of several clutch hits. Tied at 6 in the bottom of the 3rd, the flood gates opened and Democrats scored 9 runs off of 5 walks, two base hits and error. The 15 runs put on the board by Democrats in the first three innings would be enough to secure their first victory in nearly a decade.

The game benefitted several DC area charities including the Washington Literacy Council and the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Washington.

Rep. McMorris Rodgers Possible Ranking Member on Education and Labor

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**UPDATE** The new Ranking Member on Education and Labor is John Kline (R-MN).

Earlier this week, it was announced that Rep. Howard P. (Buck) McKeon (R-CA), the Ranking Member on the House of Representatives Education and Labor Committee, is leaving the panel to take the same position on the House Armed Services Committee. McKeon’s departure is particularly significant because the Education and Labor Committee is considering President Obama’s proposal to eliminate the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) in favor of a direct lending program that would cut banks and guarantee agencies out of the student loan process and result in savings that would be utilized to make the Pell Grant an entitlement. Congressman McKeon has long been viewed as a defender of financial institutions. Next week, the House Republican Steering Committee will meet to chose a new Ranking Member for the Education and Labor Committee.

Representatives Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Judy Biggert (R-IL) and John Kline (R-MN) are seen as the finalists for the Education and Labor Committee Ranking Member spot. McMorris Rogers’ position on the steering committee that will make the decision is likely to boost her chances.