Today, the Senate on Thursday confirmed Ashton B. Carter to be the next defense secretary by a vote of 93 to 5. The installation of the new Pentagon chief comes on the same day that the President has asked Congress for the authority to formally authorize (and increase) military action by the US against the Islamic State.
Carter, a former deputy defense secretary, and replaces Chuck Hagel in what has been a fairly swift confirmation process — the first hearings started in early February.
On Tuesday, the House voted, again, to repeal Obamacare. What makes this attempt notable, however, is that the measure contained instructions to the House Committees with jurisdiction to develop alternative policies and legislation in the absence of the health care law. This is the first time the House has coupled an ObamaCare repeal vote with instructions to write a replacement, but the legislation doesn’t impose any deadlines on committees to finish their work.
In addition, while the vote of 239-186 fell largely around party lines, this vote was the first time any Republicans have voted against repealing ObamaCare. Every Democrat in the chamber opposed the measure and three Republicans: Reps. Robert Dold (R-IL), John Katko (R-NY) and Bruce Poliquin (R-ME) voted against repeal. The defectors cited a lack of a clear substitute was the cause for their vote against repeal; it was not due to their support of ObamaCare. Of note, these three Members sit in seats held by Democrats in the last Congress and districts which Obama carried in the last presidential election.
Tonight at 9 pm Eastern, 6 pm Pacific, President Obama is scheduled to give his 6th State of the Union address to Congress. The White House has been previewing certain initiatives, such as two years of free community college and paid sick leave, in advance of the speech tonight.
Tonight, however, the crux of his speech is expected to center around his economic proposals to promote the middle class and make a case for increasing federal spending on education and technology priorities. It is unclear, however, how his proposal to handle the largest funding issue confronting this last two years in office, the return of the Sequester spending cuts, will be received. The President is expected to propose increasing federal spending above the Budget Control Act levels in part by increasing taxes for the rich – his starting position in negotiations with Republicans that will ultimately determine the size of the budget for FY16.
Obama is unlikely to call for specific increases in stringent sequesters spending caps that start again in 2016, but he could call for ways to re-direct funds within those caps or come up with new revenues. As a remedy for past sequesters, the President has suggested maintaining funding for his priorities by increasing corporate taxes mainly by closing loopholes. That plan now would almost certainly be a non-starter on Capitol Hill with Republicans controlling both chambers.
The President did preview his tax increase proposals over the weekend, which included imposing a fee on financial institutions, closing the capital gains tax loophole on inherited assets, and raising the top rate of capital gains and dividends back to the Reagan rate of 28% among others. Additionally, Obama will propose increased and streamlined tax credits for the middle class for child care, two-earner families, and retirement savings.
For higher education, the President will propose consolidating the six overlapping education provisions into just two, while improving the American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC) to provide more students up to $2,500 each year over five years as they work toward a college degree. This move would likley make the AOTC permanent, index it to inflation, increase refundability, and resolve a significant problem of coordination with Pell grants that disadvantages low-income students. However, it is unclear how the Lifetime Learning Credit would be handled and the impact on graduate students.
Read more about the President’s tax proposal here.
Watch the State of the Union at 9pm EST, 6 pm Pacific on most television stations tonight.
The House adjourned yesterday for the annual Republican retreat. But before they left, the House took steps to block major provisions of the president’s immigration policy announced in November of 2014. As an amendment to legislation funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for FY15, the House passed a series of amendments effectively blocking Obama’s executive action to shield millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation.
The underlying DHS funding bill passed by a vote of 236-191. The House also voted on a series of amendments meant to roll back Obama’s executive actions on immigration, including a controversial measure by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) that would kill the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. That amendment narrowly passed by a vote of 218-209.
At the conclusion of the 113th Congress, the House and Senate passed all FY15 appropriations bills but for the FY15 DHS appropriations bill in an effort to neutralize the President’s Executive Order. The FY15 DHS appropriations were put on a continuing resolution until February 28, 2015. The decision to not fully fund DHS is due in large part to the House attempted to respond in 2014, but the effort was not taken up by the Senate.
Earlier in the week, the White House had threatened to veto any legislation which negated his immigration policy, but the White House seems open to including some symbolic GOP immigration measure – although it’s unclear just how much they are willing to give.
Without new funding for the DHS, agencies such as FEMA would be prevented from distributing emergency grants to state and local governments in need in the case of a local, regional, or national disaster.
The package as passed by the House is unlikely to be taken up by the now Republican-controlled Senate. It is highly unlikely that the bill will get the 60 votes needed for cloture since the Republicans do not have a cloture-proof majority. The Senate Republicans are currently working on alternatives.
The Office of Federal Relations will continue to track this issue as it evolves.
In advance of his State of the Union address, President Obama is traveling to Tennessee today to announce one of his keystones of his 2015 agenda: two free years of community college. The proposal, called America’s College Promise, is based on Republican Governor Bill Haslam, who developed and launched Tennessee Promise, which begins this year. Tennessee Promise allows any high school graduate in that state is eligible for two years of free community college tuition under the Tennessee Promise. The President’s announcement is expected to be a cornerstone of his FY16 Budget Request.
The Administration’s proposal would make community college free for any student who enrolls at least part-time and maintains a 2.5 grade point average. The plan would allow anyone admitted to a community college to attend without paying tuition, so long as they enroll in a program meeting certain basic requirements, and they remain on track to graduate in three years.Qualifying programs would be one of two types: it would had credits that fully transfer to local public four-year colleges and universities or it would consist of training programs with high graduation rates that lead to in-demand degrees and certificates. All community college students, including those first entering community college or those going back to school, would be eligible for the program.
The White House estimates that approximately 9 million students would participate a year.
Any state participating would have to maintain funding for all higher education as well as pay 25% of the total cost. It is estimated the program could cost upwards of $15 billion per year. It is unclear how it would be paid for, but that information is expected to be made clear in the President’s Budget Request for FY16 on February 2.
Typically, the President would do these visits to promote new initiatives after the State of the Union and before the release of the President’s Budget Request. However, the President will be making a state visit to India after the State of the Union, and so promotion for big initiates is happening now in what the Administration is calling a Spoiler Alerts.
The President is expected to formally announce the America’a College Promise at 1 pm Eastern. In addition to Governor Haslam, the President will be joined by both of Tennessee’s Republican Senators, Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander. Senator Alexander is the Chairman of the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee. Watch the announcement live here.
The Office of Federal Relations will continue to track and update information on this initiative as it becomes available.