Weekly Legislative Update
 Week of March 20, 2017
  
Congressional Outlook

Week of March 20

The House and Senate are both in session this week. On Monday, the House will consider 11 bills under suspension of the rules, including the Pesticide Registration Enhancement Act of 2017 (H.R. 1029), which would extend the EPA's pesticide registration programs and related fees through FY 2023; and the Securing Our Agriculture and Food Act (H.R. 1238), which requires the Homeland Security Department's Assistant Secretary for Health Affairs to carry out a program to coordinate the Department's efforts to defend food, agriculture and veterinary systems against terrorism and other risks. For the remainder of the week, the House will vote on the Competitive Health Insurance Reform Act of 2017 (H.R. 372), which would remove the exemption for health insurers from federal antitrust laws; the Small Business Health Fairness Act of 2017 (H.R. 1101), which would subject small businesses that provide health insurance to employees through association health plans (AHPs) to fewer regulations; and the American Health Care Act of 2017 (H.R. ___), which would repeal and replace parts of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), including the ACA's requirement that individuals have, and employers offer, health coverage, would eliminate many taxes on the wealthy, insurers and drugmakers used to fund the ACA, includes a refundable, age-based tax credit to help people buy insurance, and includes a wind-down of an expansion of Medicaid over a period of years. 
 
The Senate on Tuesday will vote on the nominations of Charles Breyer and Danny Reeves to be members of the United States Sentencing Commission, an independent federal agency responsible for articulating the sentencing  guidelines for U.S. federal courts . On Monday and Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee is holding the nomination hearing for federal appeals judge Neil Gorsuch to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, to fill the seat left vacant since February 13, 2016 by the late Justice Antonin Scalia. Later in the week, the Senate HELP, Agriculture, and Banking Committees will be holding nomination hearings for Alexander Acosta to serve as U.S. Secretary of Labor, Sonny Perdue to serve as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, and Jay Clayton to serve as Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, respectively.   
 
President Trump this week is expected to sign a broad Executive Order to undo an Obama Administration requirement that executive agencies consider climate change in their environmental reviews of infrastructure projects, as well as instruct the EPA to rewrite its 2015 Clean Power Plan and withdraw a January 2016 Interior Department moratorium on new coal leases on federal lands.
Week in Review

Trump Administration Releases FY 2018 Budget Blueprint

On March 16, the Trump Administration released its $1.15 trillion FY 2018 (Oct. 1, 2017-Sept. 30, 2018) 62-page budget proposal entitled "America First: A Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again." The budget proposes historically deep budget cuts, and the total elimination of funding for 19 agencies, in order to pay for a $54 billion increase in defense spending, a down payment on a border wall between Mexico and the U.S., and school voucher programs, among other things. The proposal only cover programs funded with  discretionary budget authority  (about 29 percent of the total federal budget), while the other 71 percent of the federal government is funded through mandatory budget authority. The  outline is fairly short on details, with only department-level totals given, rounded to the hundred million, and while several programs are identified for specific cuts, most are not. The Administration's full FY 2018 budget, which will include elements like mandatory spending and more detailed analysis of line-by-line discretionary budget items, is likely to be released in early to mid-May 2017. President Trump's proposal for $1.15 trillion in federal discretionary funding for FY 2018 is certain to face vigorous opposition from lawmakers in both parties who will resist chopping favored programs. House Appropriations Committee Democrats also released a report  which lists a state-by-state, and in some cases locality-by-locality, breakdown of revenue declines as a result of cuts contained in the budget blueprint. Read more...
Congressional Budget Office Releases Score for House GOP's American Health Care Act of 2017
 
On March 13, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a report estimating the budgetary effects of the House Republicans' American Health Care Act of 2017. The report states that the bill would increase the number of people without health insurance by 14 million people in 2018 and would total 24 million by 2026, while cutting $337 billion off the federal deficit over the next decade. The report also notes that average premiums for people buying insurance on their own would be 15 to 20 percent higher in 2018 and 2019 than they would be under current law. Additionally, the report foresees huge changes in Medicaid-by 2026 federal Medicaid spending would be 25 percent lower under the House bill than is projected under current law, and the number of Medicaid beneficiaries would be 17 percent lower, with 14 million fewer people covered by Medicaid. On March 16, the House Budget Committee passed the bill by a vote of 19-17, with three House Freedom Caucus members voting against it: Reps. Mark Sanford (R-SC), Dave Brat (R-VA), and Gary Palmer (R-AL). The House Rules Committee will now consider the bill on March 22, with a final vote by the House scheduled for March 23. Read more...    
Trump Signs Executive Order to Cut Costs of Federal Government
 
On March 13, President Trump signed an Executive Order entitled "Comprehensive Plan for Reorganizing the Executive Branch," surrounded by his Cabinet. The Order directs Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director, Mick Mulvaney, to "propose a plan to reorganize governmental functions and eliminate unnecessary agencies, components of agencies and agency programs." After he receives agency leaders' recommendations, Mulvaney will get another 180 days to submit a plan to President Trump, which will include "recommendations to eliminate unnecessary agencies, components of agencies, agency programs and to merge functions." The Order also directs Mulvaney to seek public input from both federal agencies and the public in developing the plan and to consider relevant factors, including whether a federal program is better left to state and local governments or the private sector. Read more...
Two Federal Judges Block Implementation of Trump's New Travel Ban
 
On March 15, several hours before President Trump's new March 6 travel ban Executive Order was set to go into effect at 12:01am, March 16, Hawaii federal judge Derrick K. Watson granted a temporary restraining order blocking the new Executive Order from going into effect, writing that a "reasonable, objective observer" would view even the new order as "issued with a purpose to disfavor a particular religion, in spite of its stated, religiously neutral purpose." On March 16, Maryland federal judge Theodore D. Chuang also issued a temporary order blocking the Order.  The two court orders were not a final ruling on the constitutionality of President Trump's ban, and the Administration has expressed confidence that courts will ultimately affirm Mr. Trump's power to issue the restrictions. Read more...
EPA, DOT to Review Obama-era Auto Emission Standards
 
On March 15, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt and Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Elain Chao announced that they would revisit the Obama Administration's rule that finalized standards to increase fuel economy to the equivalent of 54.5 mpg for cars and light-duty trucks by Model Year 2025.  In January, the EPA estimated that the rule would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 540 million metric tons and cut oil consumption by 1.2 billion barrels between 2022 and 2025. The review, which could eventually lead to looser emission standards for automakers, was met with praise from the auto industry and criticism from environmentalists. Read more...
Senate Votes to Confirm Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Director of National Intelligence, and National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster's Military Ranking
 
On March 13, the Senate voted 55-43 to confirm Seema Verma to be Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. On March 15, the Senate voted 85-12 to confirm former Indiana Senator Dan Coats to be Director of National Intelligence. Also, on March 15, the Senate voted 86-10 to allow National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster to keep his military ranking as a three-star Army Lieutenant General while simultaneously serving as President Trump's National Security Advisor. McMaster does not need confirmation to serve as National Security Advisor, but the law requires the Senate to reconfirm the ranks of three- and four-star generals when they are assigned new jobs.
Senate Passes CRA Resolution on Obama-era Drug Testing Rule
 
On March 14, the Senate passed, by a vote of 51-48, a House-passed Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution ( H.J.Res.42) to nullify an August 2016 Obama Administration Department of Labor rule which would have imposed limits on states' authority to drug test applicants for unemployment benefits.  The House previously passed the resolution on February 15 by a vote of 236-189 , and will now be sent to President Trump to be signed into law. Read more...
House Passes Three Veterans-Related Bills
 
Last week, the House passed the following veterans-related bills:  
  • VA Accountability First Act of 2017 (H.R. 1259), which allows the VA to fire, demote or suspend employees for poor performance or misconduct using an expedited process-passed by a vote of 237-178. The House also adopted five amendments to the bill;
  • Veterans 2nd Amendment Protection Act (H.R. 1181), would make it harder to keep veterans who are "mentally incapacitated, deemed mentally incompetent" or prone to blackouts from buying guns-passed by a vote of 240-175; and
  • A bill (H.R. 1367) which establishes staffing, recruitment, and retention programs to enable the VA to recruit and retain the strongest workforce possible, and creates a recruiting database to make high-quality potential employees aware of positions at the VA and create opportunities for career training and advancement for current VA employees through fellowship positions and a promotional track for technical experts-passed by a vote of 412-0; the House also adopted 13 amendments to the bill.