Legislative Update

Posted on April 30, 2012October 17, 2012

Congress is in recess this week, returning to work on Monday, May 7^th. Before leaving town last Friday, the House took action on legislation to delay the increase in student loan interest rates. And both chambers continued to move forward on their FY2013 appropriations measures.

FY 2013 Appropriations

While Congress is expected to finalize any major FY2013 spending decisions until after the November elections, it’s already apparent that we will see lean spending plans coming out of both chambers as they continue to work within the constraints of the Budget Control Act (LP 112-25) and also deal with deficit reduction. All of this will force lawmakers to more carefully prioritize spending and likely make tough, and substantial, programmatic cuts in both domestic and non-defense spending in coming years.

Student Loan Interest Rates

The topic du jour last week (and during the recess week) revolves around preventing the increase in student loan interest rates. While there appears to be broad, bipartisan support to prevent this increase, the two parties remain divided on how best to pay for it. On Friday, the House passed legislation that would prevent the 3.4 percent student loan interest rate from doubling in July, but the White House and Democrats are opposed because the measure’s $6 billion cost would be offset by eliminating the Prevention and Public Health Fund created by the 2010 health care reform bill. The fund provides money for programs aimed at preventing tobacco use, obesity, heart disease, strokes and cancer. While both parties oppose allowing the student loan interest rates to return to 6.8 percent, the White House vowed to veto the measure over the proposed repeal of the prevention fund. The Senate is expected to take up their version of the bill when Congress returns from recess next week. That proposal would offset the costs by ending a corporate tax break, which is backed by most Democrats. Senate leaders however, have indicated they will look for a compromise offset that both parties can agree to.

Surface Transportation Reauthorization

Shortly after returning to work next week, Congressional leaders will convene a Senate-House conference committee to negotiate a final measure to reauthorize highway and transit funding and programs. The two chambers are miles apart with the House advocating for a 5-year reauthorization and the Senate promoting a 2-year bill. There are also major differences on how to pay for highway and transit programs. It will certainly be a long, drawn out process that may – or may not – result in a final bill. The current “temporary” authorization runs out in 61 days and will certainly need another extension if Congress cannot come to agreement.

The Office of Federal Relations is tracking several provisions in the proposals that could have some impact on the University’s transit initiatives and the safety enhancements planned for the portion of the Burke Gilman Trail that runs through campus. Additionally, the bill will reauthorize the University Transportation Centers (UTC) program. The UW operates the Region 10 UTC.

This Week in Congress

Posted on April 16, 2012October 17, 2012

Congress is back in session today after a two-week break for the Easter holiday. Appropriators in both chambers will begin moving FY 2013 annual appropriations bills this week. The House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday will start marking up its spending bills for FY 2013 with a goal of cutting federal spending by a little more than one percent, or $15 billion. Senate appropriators, on the other hand, will begin their markups with a slightly more generous target that would still keep annual discretionary spending relatively flat. Senate subcommittees begin the process on Tuesday with the Commerce-Justice-Science and Transportation-Housing and Urban Development measures. The House Energy-Water subcommittee will meet Wednesday and the Commerce-Justice-Science panel is expected to meet Thursday. Under House rules, the draft bills will be made public 24 hours in advance of the markups; the Senate does not have a requirement for an early look.

Appropriators have yet to announce plans for writing the massive Labor-HHS-Education spending bill, which is always among the last and most controversial funding measures to move. The bill faces an additional challenge this year with the pending Supreme Court ruling on health care reform due in June. House appropriators might wait until after the ruling to move the bill. Meanwhile in the Senate expects the court will uphold the law and plans to write its spending bill assuming health reform will remain intact.

Tuesday

The Senate Appropriations Committee will hold subcommittee markups of its Commerce, Justice, Science FY 2013 spending bill and its Transportation, Housing and Urban Development FY 2013 spending bill.
The Senate Armed Services Committee will hold a subcommittee hearing on the health and status of the Department of Defense science and technology laboratories and enterprise.

Wednesday

The House Appropriations Energy and Water Subcommittee will mark up its Energy and Water Development FY 2013 spending bill.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold subcommittee hearings on budget and spending concerns at the DOE and FDA User Fees 2012: How Innovation Helps Patients and Jobs.
The House Science, Space, and Technology Committee will hold subcommittee hearings on NSF Major Multi-User Research Facilities Management and Growing the Wireless Economy through Innovation.

Thursday

The House Homeland Security Committee will hold a subcommittee hearing on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and DOE National Labs: Finding Efficiencies and Optimizing Outputs in Homeland Security Research and Development.
The House Science, Space, and Technology Committee will hold a subcommittee hearing on Impact of Tax Policies on the Commercial Application of Renewable Energy Technology.
The American Chemical Society will hold a Capitol Hill briefing on Cybersecurity and Smart Infrastructure: Ensuring Resilience and Deterrence.

Today in DC

Posted on March 29, 2012October 17, 2012

The House is expected to adopt the FY 2013 GOP budget plan, which would set up a conflict with the Senate over appropriations spending levels. That chamber also plans a vote on a three-month highway bill extension, days before funding for transportation programs expires.

The Senate votes on a motion to invoke cloture on an oil and gas tax preference repeal measure and resumes consideration of its bill on tax rates for high-income earners.

If both chambers can agree on the transportation extension, they will likely leave town this afternoon to begin their 2-week recess period.

In other action in DC, the Supreme Court has concluded oral arguments on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. They will now diliberate behind closed doors and offer their ruling sometime in June.

House Budget Proposes Additional Cuts to FY 2013

Posted on March 22, 2012October 17, 2012

The House Budget Committee approved its FY 2013 budget resolution late last night. This resolution, a blueprint developed by Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI), will now go to the House floor where it is expected to gain strong support from most Republicans and fierce opposition from Democrats. The plan would set discretionary spending in FY 2013 at $1.028 trillion, which is $19 billion less than the $1.047 trillion spending cap outlined in the debt limit agreement (Budget Control Act) approved last August. To find the extra saving, the measure directs six authorizing committees to find more than $200 billion in mandatory savings over a 10-year period. The savings would be packaged together and moved through the House using the budget reconciliation process, although the move will almost certainly be unsuccessful since reconciliation requires that the Senate and House agree to the same budget plan.

The budget resolution will be considered on the House floor next week, the last week of work before a two-week congressional recess period.

FY 2013 Budget & Appropriations this Week

Posted on March 19, 2012October 17, 2012

Budget: With the House in recess last week, work continued behind the scenes to draft the FY 2013 budget resolution which is expected to be marked up this week. This budget resolution is likely to propose deeper spending cuts in an effort to balance the budget more quickly. Conservatives have been pushing to get the discretionary limit down to $931 billion, more than $100 billion below the $1.047 trillion discretionary spending cap in the Budget Control Act (PL 112-25). The resolution may also include provisions aimed at limiting the impact of sequestration, the automatic spending cuts scheduled to begin in January of 2013 that would result in just under $100 billion in defense and non-defense discretionary spending reductions. Any effort to address sequestration through this budget resolution or subsequent legislation will likely come down to a tug-of-war between protection of defense spending vs. protection of entitlements.

Appropriations: Appropriators in both chambers will hear from a series of Cabinet officials and agency leaders throughout the week, continuing a busy schedule of hearings that have touched on the administration’s FY 2013 budget request as well as its policies. Among the officials set to testify before Appropriations subcommittees this week are U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan E. Rice, Commerce Secretary John Bryson, Small Business Administration Administrator Karen G. Mills, National Institutes of Health Director Francis S. Collins, NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr., Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, and Education Secretary Arne Duncan.