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Category: On the Hill

Senate Subcommittee Passes FY 2017 Labor-H

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Today, the Senate appropriations subcommittee approved the first bipartisan Labor-H funding bill since Obamacare became law more than six years ago.

The Senate’s FY 2017 bill includes a $2 billion increase for NIH (the same as the FY 2016 increase), a near doubling of funding to fight the opioid epidemic to $261 million, and $7.1 billion for CDC – $76 million more than the White House requested. Additionally, the Pell grant program would be expanded allowing students to access Pell over the summer. The expansion would allow roughly a million students to receive a second grant to take a third semester of classes, usually in the summer, helping them to graduate sooner. The students would also be expected to graduate with less debt, as the average recipient would be expected to see $1,650 more in aid. Additionally, the Senate bill would allow students to receive the additional Pell Grant even if they only attended school part-time. In the Administration’s FY 2017 budget proposal, the White House proposed an expansion to summer Pell, but would limit year-round Pell only to full-time students. 

The legislation does not include any new restrictions on funding for the Affordable Care Act, which has been one of the key obstacles to a bipartisan funding bill in recent years. Additionally, the legislation also avoided cuts to Title X women’s health and family planning programs, which have been the source of partisan battles in recent years.

The full Senate Appropriations committee will mark up the legislation on Thursday morning.

Federal Relations will continue to monitor the legislation and will post as more information becomes available.

Congress Gets Back to Work for the Long Slog

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The House and Senate return to work this week in what will be the largest number of consecutive legislative days prior to the August Recess.  Both legislative bodies will push pause and briefly come together for a joint session to receive Indian Prime Minister Modi.

The Senate returns today to resume consideration on its FY 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, which was slightly detoured last week. The Senate Appropriations Committee to have full consideration of the FY 2017 Labor-H Appropriations bill this week — subcommittee will mark up Tuesday and full committee will consider Thursday. The Labor-H bill contains many of the issues that the higher education community is concerned about including student loans, Pell grants, Perkins, and NIH funding among others. The bill is currently in a close hold, but it is expected to expand the Pell grant program to become year round.

More information will be made available as soon as possible.

The House will return Wednesday to consider the FY 2017 Legislative Affairs appropriations bill as well as legislation to bailout Puerto Rico from its $70 billion in debt (for an island of under 3.5 million people). The island has defaulted three times, and its next big payout is due July 1. The Puerto Rico “bailout” has been very controversial on the House-side of the Hill. The territory has argued it simply needs leniency to restructure its current debt to reduce or delay payments.

Meanwhile, the FY 2017 Legislative Affairs bill could be the debut of the new House standard operating procedure of considering appropriations bills under a structured rule, rather than the traditional open rule. The traditional open rule having caused significant meltdown of the FY 2017 E&W bill before the break.

 

Memorial Day Recess

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The House and Senate are out this week as they head home to celebrate Memorial Day with a week-long recess. When they return, the Senate will resume consideration on its version of the FY 2017 National Defense Authorization Act and the House will begin regrouping on how to proceed with appropriations after the meltdown of the FY 2017 E&W bill last week.

House and Senate Agree to Conference Zika Funding Bills

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Today, the House voted 233-180 Thursday for a rule that would allow the chamber go to conference with the Senate over differences in the two chambers’ respective versions of their FY2017 Mil-Con appropriations measures as well as legislation to address the Zika virus. The Senate will also need to agree to go to conference.

The House and Senate has vastly different approaches to Zika funding. The House funding was a separate measure, which only provided $622 million and passed on a largely party-line vote of 241-184 while garnering a veto threat from President Obama because it provides less than a third of his $1.9 billion request. The Senate included $1.1 billion, again less than the $1.9 billion requested, and was attached to the Senate’s FY2017 Mil-Con and T-HUD combined measure. 

Once convened the House and Senate have a limited amount of time to resolve their differences.

House FY2016 E&W Fails on the Floor

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Earlier today, House’s FY2017 Energy and Water Appropriations bill (HR 5055) failed by a vote of 112-305. It is the second regular appropriations bill to be considered by the House this year. The first was the FY2017 Mil-Con measure, which passed last week.

The measure failed to pass due to a series of amendments that poisoned the bill for both Republicans and Democrats. For the Democrats, there were a host of provisions added that dealt  illegal immigration “sanctuary cities” and the Iran nuclear deal among others. Additionally, the President had previously issued a veto threat on the measure over several policy riders, including ones that ease protections for an endangered fish to allow more water to be diverted within drought-stricken California as well as provisions to prevent implementation of Clean Water Act regulations..

The damning amendment for conservative Republicans was an added last night by Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY) and passed by a vote of 223-195, which would bar federal contractors from discriminating against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.The Maloney amendment was first offered on the House FY2017 Mil-Con bill, which appeared to pass 217-206, but ultimately was defeated after the Leadership’s effort switched enough Republican votes to defeat the measure, 212-213. Many House Republicans opposed the amendment because it would have the effect of enacting into law a 2014 Executive Order by President Barack Obama.

Upon the amendment’s failure on the FY2017 Mil-Con bill, Rep. Maloney insisted he would continue to offer the amendment, or similar to each subsequent appropriations measure. This position lead to the House Republicans changing their tactics on future appropriations considered on the Floor, but not until after the HR5055, the FY2017 E&W bill was already on the Floor for consideration.

Ultimately, just 106 Republicans voted in favor of the bill, while 130 voted against it. There were only six Democratic votes in favor as well, with 175 opposed.

With the failure of the bill, the House recessed for the Memorial Day Recess period.