Weekly Legislative Update
 Week of September 19, 2016
  
Congressional Outlook

Week of September 19th

The House and Senate are both in session this week. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the House will consider 49 bills under suspension of the rules, including:
  • the Supporting Youth Opportunity and Preventing Delinquency Act of 2016 (H.R. 5963), which would reauthorize, through FY 2022, a total of $855.2 million for federal programs to prevent juvenile delinquency and provide services to young offenders for state and local governments;
  • a bill (H.R. 5977) requiring the U.S. Department of Transportation to provide advance notice to the House Transportation and Infrastructure & Senate Environment and Public Works Committees at least three business days before awarding a grant of $750,000 or more;
  • the Community Counterterrorism Preparedness Act (H.R. 5859), which would authorize $39 million annually, through FY 2022, in FEMA grants for emergency response agencies in major urban areas for training and exercises to prevent, prepare for and respond to potential terrorist attack scenarios, including active shooters;
  • the Cyber Preparedness Act of 2016 (H.R. 5459), which would expand a U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) information-sharing initiative with states and municipalities to include coordination involving cybersecurity risks;
  • the First Responder Access to Innovative Technologies Act (H.R. 5460), which would mandate that FEMA develop a process for reviewing grant applications for purchasing equipment and systems that don't meet or exceed voluntary consensus standards for grants sought under the State Homeland Security Grant Program and the Urban Area Security Initiative; and
  • the Transit Security Grant Program Flexibility Act (H.R. 5943), which would provide an additional year for recipients of DHS' Public Transportation Security Assistance Grants to use money they receive.
For the remainder of the week, the House will consider 4-5 additional bills, including the Require Evaluation before Implementing Executive Wishlists (REVIEW) Act of 2015 (H.R. 3438), which would delay high-cost federal regulations (estimated at $1 billion or more) until all judicial reviews have been exhausted; and the Empowering Employees through Stock Ownership Act (H.R. 5719), which would allow lower-level employees in startups to defer paying taxes on stock options until the options become transferable or the company goes public.
 
On Monday, the Senate has scheduled a cloture vote on the motion to proceed tothe House-passed FY 2017 Legislative Branch Appropriations bill (H.R. 5325), which is the floor vehicle for the continuing resolution (CR) to fund the federal government from October 1-December 9, 2016 at the current spending level of $1.067 trillion. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) plans to bring up the CR once outstanding issues involving funding for Zika containment programs and emergency flood relief in Louisiana as well as language to delay an Obama Administration plan to relinquish U.S. regulation of Internet domain names and addresses are resolved. House and Senate leaders are trying to complete work on the spending bill by the end of this week.
Week in Review

Senate Passes 2016 Water Resources Development Act
 
On September 15, the Senate passed, by a vote of 95-3, the $9.4 billion Water Resources Development Act of 2016 ( S. 2848), which would authorize 30 Army Corps of Engineers recommended projects, provide additional clean water and drinking water policies and spending, including $220 million in emergency funding for the Flint, MI lead crisis, and would provide restoration for the Everglades, the Great Lakes, the Delaware River Basin, Lake Tahoe and other areas. S. 2848 also contains several measures targeting water infrastructure funding and affordability, including provisions eliminating the "pilot" designation for WIFIA; authorizing an ombudsman to manage and coordinate integrated planning for clean water regulatory compliance plans; requiring EPA to revise its household affordability guidelines, which affect municipalities' ability to pay for infrastructure upgrades; creating a new clean water trust fund; and authorizing the Corps to accept non-federal funds for review and revision of operating criteria at Corps dams and flood control curves for non-Corps projects regulated by the Corps for flood control. The version of the bill passed by the Senate is not the version originally reported from the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee in late April-rather, it is a bipartisan substitute (text here,section-by-section summary  here, summary of changes from reported version here) that was then heavily modified on the Senate floor by a manager's amendment (text here, summary of changes here) adopted by voice vote on September 13.
 
Additionally, eight stand-alone amendments to S. 2848 were adopted en bloc by voice vote on September 15:
  • S. Amdt. 5063, introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), adds language authorizing efforts to study, design and construct control gates, spillways and dam safety improvements for aging flood control reservoirs constructed by the Army Corps of Engineers before 1940;
  • S. Amdt. 5066, introduced by Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE), adds language requiring the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct a two-year investigation into the "environmental infrastructure" program run by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, marking the first-ever comprehensive review of the program in its history;
  • S. Amdt. 5068, introduced by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), adds language blocking the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from charging a fee for surplus water stored in Lake Cumberland in Kentucky;
  • S. Amdt. 5069, introduced by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), replaces section 7206 of the bill entitled "Chesapeake Bay Grass Survey";
  • S. Amdt. 5074, introduced by Sens. John Hoeven (R-ND) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), adds language limiting the permit fees for cabins and trailers on land administered by the Dakotas Area Office of the Bureau of Reclamation and to allow trailer area permittees at Heart Butte Dam and Reservoir (Lake Tschida) to continue using trailer homes on their permitted lots;
  • S. Amdt. 5075, introduced by Sens. Johnny Isakson (R-GA) and David Perdue (R-GA), adds language deauthorizing the New Savannah Bluff Lock and Dam, Georgia and South Carolina;
  • S. Amdt. 5076, introduced by Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS), makes technical corrections to section 6009 of the bill entitled "Yazoo Basin, Mississippi"; and
  • S. Amdt. 5077, introduced by Sens. Jon Tester (D-MT) and Steve Daines (R-MT), adding a new Title IX to the bill entitled "Blackfeet Water Rights Settlement Act," whose purpose is to "achieve a fair, equitable, and final settlement of claims to water rights in the State of Montana for the Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation and the United States, for the benefit of the Tribe and allottees."
The House may consider a modified version of its own WRDA bill ( H.R. 5303 ) next week, under suspension of the rules, which prohibits amendments, waives all points of order, and requires a two-thirds vote for passage. Additionally, on September 13, 143 House members sent a letter to Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) urging them to bring H.R. 5303 to the House floor by September 30th. Due to large differences between the House and Senate WRDA bills, a House-Senate Conference Committee would be tasked with resolving differences between the two bills in the post-election lameduck period in November and December. Read more...
House Passes Bill to Keep Federal Agencies from Promoting Proposed Rules
 
On September 14, the House passed, by a vote of 250-171, the Regulatory Integrity Act of 2016 ( H.R. 5226), which would require each federal agency to make publicly available on the agency website or on regulations.gov  a list of: (1) each pending agency regulatory action; (2) the date of origination of the regulation; (3) most recent status; (4) an estimate of the date of completion of the final rule; (5) a description of the regulatory action; and (6) each public communication about the action issued by the agency, including the date of communication, the intended audience, the method by which the communication was transmitted, and a copy of the original communication. The bill would also prohibit agencies from publicly disseminating information to "promote" a pending agency regulatory action. The White House issued a Statement of Administration Policy threatening to veto H.R. 3590, because it would "undermine long-established regulatory frameworks by adding unhelpful, duplicative, and burdensome procedural requirements on agencies, while increasing the cost of regulation to the American taxpayer." Read more...
House Passes Bill Making it Easier to Fire VA Workers
 
On September 14, the House passed, by a vote of 310-116, the VA Accountability First and Appeals Modernization Act ( H.R. 5620), which is a combination of two different bills related to VA reform. The first portion of H.R. 5620 is a similar to  the VA Accountability Act of 2015 ( H.R. 1994) which passed the House on July 29, 2015 by a vote of 256-170 and would give the U.S. Secretary of Veterans' Affairs broad authority to fire, demote or take back previously given bonuses, awards or annuities to Veterans' Affairs employees. The second portion of H.R. 5620 is similar to the VA Appeals Modernization Act of 2016 ( H.R. 5083), which would make positive improvements to address the ballooning appeals backlog at the VA by allowing veterans to choose one of three avenues for their appeal: (1) a high level review for their claim which would allow a completely new review of the claim; (2) an opportunity to add evidence to their claim without review of the original submissions; or (3) a full review done by the Board of Veterans Appeals, either with new evidence or as an expedited review. The White House issued a Statement of Administration Policy for H.R. 5620, stopping short of a veto threat, but warning that "these provisions will make it more difficult for VA to attract the top talent that is needed to serve veterans, limit the rights of VA employees and senior executives, and set back the work done by VA to rebuild veterans' trust." Read more...
House Passes Bill to Rollback Obamacare Tax Hike
 
On September 13, the House passed, by a vote of 261-147, the Halt Tax Increases on the Middle Class and Seniors Act (H.R. 3590), which would repeal one of the revenue provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that increased the income threshold at which individuals may begin deducting unreimbursed medical expenses from their taxable income. Under the ACA, taxpayers under 65 may deduct medical expenses greater than 10% of their adjusted gross income (AGI). Seniors over 65 may, however, deduct these expenses after they reach 7.5% of AGI - but this threshold, too, will increase to 10% in 2017. H.R. 3590 would repeal that portion of the ACA and allow all taxpayers to deduct medical expenses above 7.5% of their income on a permanent basis. The White House issued a Statement of Administration Policy threatening to veto H.R. 3590, because it would "repeal a provision of the Affordable Care Act that limits a regressive, poorly targeted tax break for health care spending [...] would disproportionately benefit high-income Americans, while increasing national health care spending [and] would increase the Federal deficit by $32.7 billion over ten years according to the Congressional Budget Office." Read more...
Congressional Schedule

Tuesday, September 20 
  • Full Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing entitled "An Examination of Wells Fargo's Unauthorized Accounts and the Regulatory Response."
  • Full House Energy and Commerce Committee markup of the Improving Rural Call Quality and Reliability Act of 2016 (H.R. 2566); the Anti-Spoofing Act of 2016 (H.R. 2669); the Protecting Patient Access to Emergency Medications Act of 2016 (H.R. 4365); the National Clinical Care Commission Act (H.R. 1192); the Improving Access to Maternity Care Act (H.R. 1209); the Mental Health First Aid (H.R. 1877); the Title VIII Nursing Workforce Reauthorization Act of 2015 (H.R. 2713); and the Synthetic Drug Control Act of 2015 (H.R. 3537).
  • Full Senate Judiciary Committee hearing entitled "Consolidation and Competition in the U.S. Seed and Agrochemical Industry."
  • Full House Rules Committee meeting to consider the Require Evaluation before Implementing Executive Wishlists (REVIEW) Act of 2015 (H.R. 3438); theIranian Leadership Asset Transparency Act (H.R. 5461); and the Empowering Employees through Stock Ownership Act (H.R. 5719).
  • House Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations hearing entitled "VA Procurement: Identifying Obstacles to Reform." 
Wednesday, September 21 
  • Full Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee hearing entitled "The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Current State of the Farm Economy."
  • Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies hearing entitled "Housing Vulnerable Families and Individuals: Is There a Better Way?"
  • Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies hearing entitled "Prioritizing Public Health: The FDA's Role in the Generic Drug Marketplace."
  • Full House Armed Services Committee hearing entitled "15 Years After 9-11: The State of the Fight Against Islamic Terrorism."
  • Full House Budget Committee hearing entitled "Restoring the Trust for Families and Working-Age Americans."
  • Full Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee markup of the NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2016 (S. 3346); the Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act of 2016 (S. 3183); the SelectUSA Authorization Act of 2016 (S. 3097); the Inspiring Next Space Pioneers, Innovators, Researchers, and Explorers (INSPIRE) Women Act, (H.R. 4755); the Promoting Women in Entrepreneurship Act (H.R. 4742); and the Safeguarding American Families from Exposure by Keeping Information and Data Secure (SAFE KIDS) Act (S. 1788).
  • House Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education hearing entitled "Supplanting the Law and Local Education Authority Through Regulatory Fiat."
  • Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Fisheries, Water, and Wildlife hearing entitled "Reviewing the Proposed Revisions to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Mitigation Policy."
  • House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance hearing entitled "The Future of Housing in America: A Better Way to Increase Efficiencies for Housing Vouchers and Create Upward Economic Mobility."
  • House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises hearing entitled "Corporate Governance: Fostering a System that Promotes Capital Formation and Maximizes Shareholder Value."
  • Full Senate Finance Committee markup to consider the "Miners Protection Act of 2016 and the Retirement Enhancement and Saving Act of 2016."
  • Full Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee markup of the Career and Technical Education Act of 2016 (S. ___); the Expanding Capacity for Health Outcomes (ECHO) Act (S. 2873); and the Protecting Patient Access to Emergency Medications Act of 2016 (S. 2932).
  • Full House Homeland Security Committee hearing entitled "Stopping the Next Attack: How to Keep Our City Streets from Becoming the Battleground."
  • Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations hearing entitled "Combatting the Opioid Epidemic: A Review of Anti-Abuse Efforts by Federal Authorities and Private Insurers."
  • Full Senate Indian Affairs Committee markup of the Indian Health Service (HIS) Accountability Act of 2016 (S. 2953); the Indian Community Economic Enhancement Act of 2016 (S. 3234); and the Native American Business Incubators Program Act (S. 3261).
  • Full House Judiciary Committee hearing entitled "Impeachment Articles Referred on John Koskinen, Part III."
  • Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest hearing entitled "Oversight of the Administration's FY 2017 Refugee Resettlement Program."
  • Full House Natural Resources Committee hearing entitled "The Impacts of the Obama CEQ's Final Guidance for GHG Emissions and the Effects of Climate Change."
  • House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations hearing entitled "The Status of the Federal Government's Management of Wolves."
  • Full House Natural Resources Committee markup of the Endangered Salmon and Fisheries Predation Prevention Act (H.R. 564); the Alaska Native Veterans Land Allotment Equity Act (H.R. 2387); the Utah Public Lands Initiative Act (H.R. 5780); the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians Water Rights Settlement Act (H.R. 5984); and the Daniel J. Evans Olympic National Park Wilderness Act (S. 3028).
  • Full House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing entitled "Reviewing the Rising Price of Epipens."
  • Full House Science, Space, and Technology Committee markup of the "To Research, Evaluate, Assess, and Treat (TREAT) Astronauts Act" (H.R. ____);the "Cybersecurity Responsibility and Accountability Act of 2016" (H.R. ____);and the "Agriculture Delivering Vastly Improved Science at the EPA (ADVISE) Now Act" (H.R. 5829).
  • Full House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing entitled "An Examination of FEMA's Limited Role in Local Land Use Development Decisions."
  • Full House Veterans' Affairs Committee markup of the following 11 bills: the Protecting Veterans' Educational Choice Act of 2016 (H.R. 5047); the Military Residency Choice Act (H.R. 5428); a bill "to expand the eligibility for headstones, markers, and medallions furnished by VA for deceased individuals who were awarded the Medal of Honor and are buried in private cemeteries" (H.R. 4757); the Working to Integrate Networks Guaranteeing Member Access Now (WINGMAN) Act (H.R. 5166); the Veterans Emergency Treatment (VET) Act (H.R. 3216); the VA Affairs Emergency Medical Staffing Recruitment and Retention Act (H.R. 4150); a bill "to establish a pilot program on partnership agreements to construct new VA facilities" (H.R. 5099); the Vet Connect Act of 2016 (H.R. 5162); the No Veterans Crisis Line Call Should Go Unanswered Act (H.R. 5392); the Ethical Patient Care for Veterans Act of 2016 (H.R. 5399); and the No Hero Left Untreated Act (H.R. 5600).
  • House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security hearing entitled "Understanding Social Security's Solvency Challenge." 
Thursday, September 22 
  • House Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation and Forestry hearing entitled "Rehabilitation of the Chesapeake Bay: Healing in the Bay the Voluntary Way."
  • Full Senate Armed Services Committee hearing entitled "U.S. National Security Challenges and Ongoing Military Operations."
  • Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development hearing entitled "HTCD: Oversight of the HUD Inspection Process."
  • House Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions hearing entitled "Discussion Draft to Modernize Multiemployer Pensions."
  • House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology hearing entitled "Modernizing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act."
  • Full Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee legislative hearing to receive testimony on the following 21 bills: the Southwestern Oregon Watershed and Salmon Protection Act of 2015 (S. 346); the Improved National Monument Designation Process Act (S. 437); a bill to limit the authority to reserve water rights in designating a national monument (S. 1416); the National Volcano Early Warning and Monitoring System Act (S. 2056); the RPPA Commercial Recreation Concessions Pilot Program Act of 2015 (S. 2380); the San Juan County Settlement Implementation Act of 2016 (S. 2681); the Methow Headwaters Protection Act of 2016 (S. 2991); the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks Conservation Act (S. 3049); the Pershing County Economic Development and Conservation Act (S. 3102); the Appalachian Forest National Heritage Area Act of 2016 (S. 3167); the Alex Diekmann Peak Designation Act of 2016 (S. 3192); the Alaska Economic Development and Access to Resources Act (S. 3203); the King Cove Road Land Exchange Act (S. 3204); the Spearfish Canyon and Bismarck Lake Land Exchange Act (S. 3254); the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Improvement Act of 2016 (S. 3273); the Responsible Disposal Reauthorization Act of 2016 (S. 3312); the Second Division Memorial Modification Act (S. 3315); the Advancing Conservation and Education Act (S. 3316); a bill to exempt Utah from the Antiquities Act (S. 3317); the Clear Creek National Recreation Area and Conservation Act (H.R. 1838); the Pascua Yaqui Tribe Land Conveyance Act (H.R. 2009).
  • House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises hearing entitled "Examining the Agenda of Regulators, SROs, and Standards-Setters for Accounting, Auditing, and Municipal Securities."
  • House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Oversight and Management Efficiency hearing entitled "Identifying the Enemy: Radical Islamist Terror."
  • Full Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing entitled "Exploring a Right to Try for Terminally Ill Patients."
  • Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs and Federal Management hearing entitled "Continued Review of Agency Regulatory Guidance, Part III."
  • Full House Judiciary Committee hearing entitled "Oversight of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement."
  • House Judiciary Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law hearing entitled "Treating the Opioid Epidemic: The State of Competition in the Markets for Addiction Medicine."
  • Full House Natural Resources Committee markup of the Endangered Salmon and Fisheries Predation Prevention Act (H.R. 564); the Alaska Native Veterans Land Allotment Equity Act (H.R. 2387); the Utah Public Lands Initiative Act (H.R. 5780); the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians Water Rights Settlement Act (H.R. 5984); and the Daniel J. Evans Olympic National Park Wilderness Act (S. 3028).
  • House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Government Operations hearing entitled "Examining Billion Dollar Waste Through Improper Payments."
  • House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Highways and Transit roundtable policy discussion entitled "Impact of the FAST Act's Freight Provisions." 
Friday, September 23 
  • House Financial Services Subcommittee on Monetary Policy and Trade hearing entitled "The Financial Stability Board's Implications for U.S. Growth and Competitiveness."
  • House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice hearing entitled "The Ultimate Civil Right: Examining the Hyde Amendment and the Born Alive Infants Protection Act."
  • House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Transportation and Public Assets hearing entitled "Vacant Federal Properties."