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Weekly Legislative Update
Week of October 16, 2017
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The Senate is in session this week while the House is in recess until October 23. The Senate will vote on the nominations of Callista Gingrich to serve as the 11th U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See and David Trachtenberg to serve as Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense, Policy. The Senate will also consider the FY 2018 Budget Resolution (S. Con. Res. 25), which includes reconciliation instructions to enable Republicans to bypass the 60-vote threshold to limit debate -- crucial for advancing a Republican plan to cut taxes by $1.5 trillion over 10 years without Democratic votes. Additionally, the Senate will vote on a $36.5 billion House-passed emergency funding measure for hurricane and wildfire relief and recovery, including $18.7 billion for FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund, $576.5 million for wildfire-fighting efforts, and $16 billion in debt relief for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), in order for the NFIP to continue paying insurance claims to owners of property damaged by hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria, and Nate, plus other flooding.
On Monday, President Trump hosted a Cabinet meeting, where he provided direction concerning specific Administration and legislative priorities including tax reform, immigration, and disaster relief. Later, the President and Vice President had lunch with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). On Tuesday, Trump will welcome Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to the White House. Vice President Mike Pence will be in Buffalo, New York, to meet with local businesses, community leaders, and families to discuss the need for tax reform in the United States.
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House Passes $36.5 Billion Emergency Hurricane and Wildfire Funding Measure
On October 12, the House passed, by a vote of
353-69, the billion "Additional Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief Requirements Act, 2017" (
H.R. 2266). The legislation provides $36.5 billion in emergency supplemental appropriations in response to the damage caused by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, and wildfires in California, as well as debt forgiveness for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). $18.7 billion is allocated to FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund (DRF), which also includes a provision that would give Puerto Rico access to $4.9 billion in low-interest loans in order to prevent the territory from running out of cash during its recovery. An additional $1.27 billion is allocated to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to meet increased food needs in Puerto Rico as a result of the storms. The bill includes $576.6 million, equal to the
President's request, for fighting wildfires. $16 billion is allocated to forgive a portion of the NFIP's debt, which also matches the President's request, so that the program does not hit its borrowing cap and is able to pay claims resulting from Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. The Senate is expected to pass this bill during the week of Oct. 16, sending it to President Trump to be signed into law.
Read more...
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Trump Takes Two Executive Actions on Healthcare
On October 12, President Trump
signed
Executive Order 13813 entitled "Promoting Healthcare Choice and Competition Across the United States." The E.O. directs the federal government to allow the sale of cheaper health insurance plans that provide fewer benefits
that were limited under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) rules set by the Obama Administration. While the E.O. does not make any immediate changes, it specifically directs the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Treasury, within 60 days, to "consider proposing regulations or revising guidance, to the extent permitted by law," on several different options for expanding the types of plans individuals and small businesses could purchase. Among Trump's
suggestions
to the Departments are broadening rules to allow more small employers and other groups to form what are known as "Association Health Plans" (AHPs) and to sell low cost, short-term limited duration insurance (STLDI). There is no guarantee, however, that any of these plans will be forthcoming. In any case, the process to make them available could take months, meaning that the E.O. will probably not affect insurance coverage next year, but could lead to major changes in 2019.
On Oct. 12, the Trump Administration also announced that his Administration will immediately end subsidies to health insurance companies that help defer costs for low-income people with incomes less than 250 percent of the federal poverty line, or about $30,000 in come a year for an individual. Without the subsidies, insurance markets could quickly unravel. Known as Cost-Sharing Reduction (CSR) payments, the subsidies were expected to total $9 billion in the coming year and nearly $100 billion in the coming decade.
Cutting off payments to insurers for the out-of-pocket discounts they provide to moderate-income policyholders does not mean those people will no longer get help. The ACA, and insurance company contracts with the federal government, require those discounts be granted.That means insurance companies will have to figure out how to recover the money they were promised. They could raise premiums (and many are raising them already). For the majority of people who get the separate subsidies to help pay their premiums, those increases will be borne by the federal government. Those who will be hit hardest are the roughly 7.5 million people who buy their own individual insurance but earn too much to get federal premium help. Insurers could also simply drop out of the ACA entirely, which would affect everyone in the individual market and could leave some counties with no insurer for next year. Insurers could also sue the government, and most experts think they would eventually win.
Read more...
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House Votes to go to Conference with Senate on FY 2018 NDAA
On October 12, the House voted by Unanimous Consent to go to conference with the Senate on the $621.5 billion FY 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (
H.R. 2810) and voted
414-8 on closing portions of the conference. The House passed their own version of the FY18 NDAA on July 14 by a vote of
344-81, while the Senate passed their own version on Sept. 18 by a vote of
89-8; a formal House-Senate conference is now needed to reconcile differences between the two versions and pass one identical version in both chambers. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI)
announced on Oct. 12 that he had named 46 Republican lawmakers from the House Armed Services and 14 additional House Committees to serve on the House-Senate conference committee, while House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
named 27 Democrats to the conference committee. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will likely name Senate conferees this week.
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Trump Withdraws Certification of the Iran Nuclear Agreement
On October 13, President Trump
officially disavowed the 2015 international nuclear deal with Iran, undermining but not terminating an agreement he called weak and poorly constructed.
The 2015 agreement among the United States, Iran, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China set limits on Iran's nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of what had become crippling economic sanctions.
Rather than immediately imposing new sanctions that could jeopardize the international accord, he said he wants Congress to craft new "trigger points" for sanctions.
His decision to withdraw presidential "certification" of the deal throws its future into doubt by tying continued U.S. participation to
new requirements for Iran. But the approach also falls well short of Trump's repeated campaign vow to scrap the deal altogether, marking the latest collision between his "America first" worldview and the realities of global diplomacy and dealmaking.
If the amendment is approved by Congress and Iran fails to meet the new requirements, the United States could impose new sanctions that would effectively break the deal. Or, if Congress is unwilling, Trump said he could back away on his own.
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Trump Names Kirstjen Nielsen as DHS Secretary Nominee
On October 12, President Trump officially announced his intent to nominate Kirstjen Nielsen as the 6th U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, succeeding current White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, who resigned from the DHS post on July 31 to work at the White House. Nielsen currently serves at the White House Principal Deputy Chief of Staff and was John Kelly's Chief of Staff when he served as DHS secretary earlier this year. Nielsen is the first nominee for DHS Secretary to have previously worked within the DHS, having first served there as senior legislative policy director for Transportation and Security Administration under President George W. Bush. Read more...
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EPA Announces Repeal of Clean Power Plan
On October 10, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt
issued
a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposing to repeal the "Clean Power Plan (CPP)," the Obama Administration's centerpiece regulation to fight climate change, which was designed to lower carbon emissions from existing U.S. power plants by 2030 to 32 percent below 2005 levels, requiring each state to adopt its own plans to achieve individualized targets. In doing so, the EPA also said it would consider a new rule to reduce emissions, but since it did not specify a time frame, industry leaders and environmental activists said it's possible no action will be taken on that front for several years.
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Trump Announces Intent to Nominate 10 Personnel to Key Administration Positions
Last week, President Trump announced his intent to nominate 10 key positions in his Administration, including:
- Kathleen Hartnett-White to be a Member of the Council on Environmental Quality and, upon confirmation, designated Chair;
- Barry Myers to be Under Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere, Department of Commerce;
- John Rood to be Under Secretary of Defense for Policy;
- Alex Beehler to be an Assistant Secretary of the Army, Energy, Installations, and Environment; and
- James McPherson to be General Counsel, Department of the Army.
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