Weekly Legislative Update
 Week of January 9, 2017
  
Congressional Outlook

Week of January 9

The House and Senate are both in session this week. On Monday and Tuesday, the House will consider 14 bills under suspension of the rules. For the remainder of the week, the House will vote on four additional bills, including the Regulatory Accountability Act of 2017 (H.R. 5), which would mandate a variety of new requirements for federal agencies when they issue new rules.  
 
The Senate will continue consideration of the FY 2017 budget resolution (S.Con.Res.3), which would pave the way for an up-or-down vote on repealing large parts of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The Senate plans a vote on Monday on an amendment (S.Amdt.1) by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) which would cut the spending levels in the budget in order to show a balance by 2024. The Senate is scheduled to vote on Tuesday on an amendment (S.Amdt.19) by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) that would create a 60-vote point of order against legislation that would cut Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid benefits. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is planning on holding a marathon vote-a-rama Wednesday when Senators could be voting on stacks of amendments into the early hours of Thursday, forcing Senators to take some politically uncomfortable votes. The resolution includes reconciliation instructions that would allow for speedy consideration of repeal legislation that would be insulated from a Democratic filibuster. The resolution adheres to the $1.07 trillion cap set forth under the Budget Control Act, eschewing, for now, conservative demands for deeper spending cuts. 
 
The Senate is also conducting a mid-week blitz of eight separate confirmation hearings for Cabinet-level Secretary positions, including for U.S. Attorney General, Homeland Security, Transportation, State, Education, Defense, Housing and Urban Development, and Commerce Secretaries. Additionally, on Wednesday, President-elect Donald Trump is scheduled to hold his first press conference in more than five months. With the scheduling of so many events on the same day, Senate Republicans may be borrowing the controlled-chaos tactic from Donald Trump's campaign playbook to make it difficult for Senate Democrats and other critics to focus public attention on any one Cabinet pick or comment by the President-elect. President Obama is also scheduled to deliver his farewell address in Chicago on Tuesday night.  
Week in Review

House Passes Midnight Rules Relief Act
 
On January 4, the House passed, by a vote of 238-184, the Midnight Rules Relief Act of 2017 ( H.R. 21). The bill would amend the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to allow the 115th  Congress to disapprove, en masse, rules and regulations submitted at the end of President Obama's Administration. Under current law, Congress has to disapprove of one regulation at a time. Read more...   
House Passes REINS Act
 
On January 5, the House passed, by a vote of 237-187, the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act of 2017 (H.R. 26). The bill modifies the federal rule-making process by requiring Congress to approve executive agency regulatory proposals that are deemed to be "major rules" (those with an economic impact greater than $100 million) - rather than allowing Congress to disapprove of those proposed rules and regulations, as is currently the case under the Congressional Review Act (CRA). This bill would require Congress to approve any new "major rule" issued by the executive branch before it can go into effect. Read more...
Senate Votes to Proceed to FY 2017 Budget Resolution Repealing Affordable Care Act
 
On January 4, the Senate voted 51-48 on the motion to proceed to the FY 2017 budget resolution ( S.Con.Res.3), which will serve as the vehicle for repealing much of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Republicans have to use a special legislative maneuver, called budget reconciliation, to undo the ACA because they don't have enough votes to overcome a Democratic filibuster in the Senate. Budget bills aren't subject to filibuster, so lawmakers will be able to repeal the parts of the law that have budget and tax implications. The resolution calls on the House and Senate to get a bill to their respective Budget Committees by January 27 and the Senate will likely pass the resolution by the end of the week of January 9, sending it to the House for further action. House Republican leaders have indicated that they would like to get an ACA repeal bill to President-elect Trump's desk by February 20, while the Trump Administration moves forward with executive actions to start unwinding the law.  Read more...
House Passes Rules Package for 115th Congress
 
On January 3, the House passed, by a vote of 234-193, its rules package for the 115th Congress ( H.Res.5). The package includes numerous changes, including hefty fines for lawmakers who take photos or video on the House floor, the reinstatement of the " Holman rule," which enables lawmakers to reach deep into the budget and reduced the number of federal employees, slash the pay of an individual federal worker, or cut a specific federal program, and a procedural change to make it easier for Congress to transfer federal land to state or local government agencies. Read more...
House Votes for Paul Ryan for Speaker of the House
 
On January 3, the House officially re-elected Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) to continue serving as the 54th Speaker of the House. The official vote tally was: 239 votes for Paul Ryan, 189 votes for Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and 5 votes for other individuals. Read more...
Senate Republican Committee Assignments Announced for 115th Congress
 
On January 3, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced Senate Republican committee memberships for the 115th Congress. The full list is available here.
White House Releases More Than Two Dozen "Cabinet Exit Memos"
 
On January 5, the Obama Administration released 27 separate " Cabinet Exit Memos," which recounts the Administration's major department and agencies' individual accomplishments over the past eight years. Read more...
President Obama Signs American Innovation and Competitiveness Act Into Law
 
On January 6, President Obama signed the American Innovation and Competitiveness Act (S. 3084) into law, which amends and establishes new authorities for various programs at the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, as well as Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education authorities. Read more...
Joint Session of Congress Formally Certifies Donald Trump Winner of 2016 Presidential Election
 
On January 6, Vice President Joe Biden presided over a joint session of Congress, in which all 538 electoral votes for President and Vice President of the United States were counted from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Donald J. Trump received 304 electoral votes, Hillary Clinton received 227 electoral votes, and 7 electoral votes were cast to other individuals by so-called "faithless electors." Read more...
President-elect Trump Announces Additional Cabinet Members and Senior White House Staff
 
Last week, President-elect Trump announced his appointment of attorney  Robert Lighthizer to serve as the cabinet-level U.S. Trade Representative; attorney  Jay Clayton will serve as Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission; and former Indiana Senator  Dan Coats to serve as Director of National Intelligence. Trump also announced 29 additional senior White House staff (see  herehere, and  here) to serve on the White House policy teams and other West Wing offices. More information on additional White House staff appointments made thus far may be found  here . Three additional Cabinet-level nominations are expected to be officially announced soon by President-elect Trump: U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and Chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. 
Congressional Schedule

Monday, January 9 
  • Full House Rules Committee meeting to consider the Regulatory Accountability Act of 2017 (H.R. 5) and the Helping Angels Lead Our Startups (HALOS) Act (H.R. 79). 
Tuesday, January 10  
  • Full Senate Armed Services Committee hearing entitled "Civilian Control of the Armed Forces."
  • Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations hearing entitled "Backpage.com's Knowing Facilitation of Online Sex Trafficking."
  • Full Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee confirmation hearing for John Kelly to serve as U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security.
  • Full Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing for Jeff Sessions to serve as U.S. Attorney General.
  • Full Senate Select Intelligence Committee open hearing to hear presentation from Director of National Intelligence James Clapper on the intelligence community's findings that the Russian government orchestrated hackings of Democratic Party emails as well as those from Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.
  • Full House Rules Committee meeting to consider the SEC Regulatory Accountability Act (H.R. 78) and the Commodity End-User Relief Act (H.R. 238).
Wednesday, January 11 
  • Full Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee confirmation hearing for Elaine Chao to serve as U.S. Secretary of Transportation.
  • Full Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing for Rex Tillerson to serve as U.S. Secretary of State.
  • Full Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee confirmation hearing for Betsy DeVos to serve as U.S. Secretary of Education.
  • Full Senate Select Intelligence Committee confirmation hearing for Mike Pompeo to serve as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. 
Thursday, January 12 
  • Full Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing for James Mattis to serve U.S. Secretary of Defense.
  • Full Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee confirmation hearing for Ben Carson to serve U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
  • Full Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee confirmation hearing for Wilbur Ross to serve as U.S. Secretary of Commerce.