Weekly Legislative Update
 Week of November 27, 2017
  
Congressional Outlook

The House and Senate are in session this week. The House will vote on seven bills and resolutions under suspension of the rules, including the Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act of 2017 (H.R. 2228), which would allow DOJ's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) to provide grants for peer mentoring mental health pilot programs at state and local law enforcement agencies. For the remainder of the week, the House will vote on the Minnesota's Economic Rights in the Superior National Forest Act (H.R. 3905), under which the executive branch would be unable to permanently bar mineral leases in the Superior National Forest near the Canadian border, unless specifically authorized by Congress; the Brownfields Enhancement, Economic Redevelopment, and Reauthorization Act of 2017 (H.R. 3017), which modifies and reauthorizes the EPA's Brownfields Program at an annual level of $200 million through FY 2022; the Ensuring a Qualified Civil Service (EQUALS) Act of 2017 (H.R. 4182), which would subject newly appointed federal employees to a two-year, rather than one year, trial period; and the Preserving Access to Manufactured Housing Act of 2017 (H.R. 1699), which would expand exemptions from federal lending rules for buyers and sellers of manufactured homes.
 
The Senate will consider several nominations, including Dabney Freidrich to be U.S. District Judge for the District of Columbia and Gregory Katsas to be U.S. Circuit Judge for the District of Columbia. The Senate will then begin consideration of its version of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, with a final vote likely taking place on Thursday or Friday. Most individual tax rates would be temporarily reduced and the corporate income tax would be set at a flat 20 percent under the tax bill. To partially offset the cost of lower rates, the bill would modify or eliminate a number of credits, deductions, and exclusions. It would overhaul the way multinational corporations are taxed and impose a repatriation tax on earnings held offshore. It would also repeal the penalties used to enforce the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate, which requires taxpayers to have health insurance. Several changes may be made to the bill before a final vote is taken in order to gain the necessary 50 votes in the Senate for passage (with Vice President Mike Pence breaking the tie in favor of passage). With all 48 Senate Democratic Caucus members likely to vote against the bill, the Senate GOP can only afford to lose two votes and still pass the legislation. If the Senate passes its bill, the next step would be a formal House-Senate conference committee where differences between the House and Senate versions of the tax bill would be worked out, and an identical version would then be considered again by the House and Senate. If that version passed both chambers, it would then be sent to President Trump to be signed into law.  
 
On Tuesday, President Trump will head to Capitol Hill to attend the Senate Republican lunch and meet with GOP congressional leadership to discuss the tax reform legislation. On Wednesday, Trump will travel to St. Charles, Missouri to deliver a speech on tax reform. 
Week in Review

Senate Appropriations Committee Releases Four Remaining FY 2018 Appropriations Bills
 
With time quickly running out to pass a FY 2018 omnibus appropriations bill, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran (R-MS) released text and Report language last week for the four remaining FY 2018 Appropriations bills that have not yet been marked up and passed by the Committee this year:
  • FY 2018 Interior-Environment Appropriations bill text and Report, which covers funding for the Department of the Interior (except the Bureau of Reclamation), the EPA, the U.S. Forest Service, and the White House Council on Environmental Quality;
  • FY 2018 Homeland Security Appropriations bill text and Report, which covers funding for the Department of Homeland Security, including FEMA, TSA, CBP, ICE, USCIS, and the U.S. Coast Guard;
  • FY 2018 Financial Services and General Government bill text and Report, which covers funding for the Treasury Department, IRS, SEC, CFTC, GSA, FTC, FCC, the Judicial branch, and the Executive Office of the President; and
  • FY 2018 Defense Appropriations bill text and Report, which covers funding for the Department of Defense.
It appears that a two-week Continuing Resolution (CR) will likely be considered prior to Dec. 8, to allow Congress more time, through Dec. 22, to pass a FY 2018 omnibus appropriations bill. This would allow House and Senate Republican and Democratic leaders to begin formal negotiations over what a FY18 omnibus will ultimately look like. In addition to passing a FY18 spending bill, top Congressional leaders are reportedly getting closer to a deal on raising the federal government's overall spending levels for the next two years by $180-$200 billion. On spending, major sticking points have yet to be resolved, including how much of that sum will have to be offset by cuts elsewhere in the budget, and how the additional funding will be divided between defense and nondefense spending. Under current law, base military spending is capped at $549 billion for FY 2018, while nonmilitary spending is capped at $516 billion. 
Trump Signs Five Bills Into Law
 
On November 21, President Trump signed the following five bills into law:  
  • H.R. 194, the "Federal Agency Mail Management Act of 2017," which requires the General Services Administration to provide guidance and assistance to Federal agencies to ensure effective processing of the mail;
  • H.R. 1545, the "VA Prescription Data Accountability Act of 2017," which require the Department of Veterans Affairs to disclose information about covered individuals to State controlled substance monitoring programs to help to prevent misuse and diversion of prescription medications;
  • H.R. 1679, the "FEMA Accountability, Modernization and Transparency Act of 2017," which requires the Federal Emergency Management Agency to ensure that the ongoing modernization of grant systems for the administration of disaster assistance include specified features to improve applicant accessibility and transparency;
  • H.R. 3243, the "FITARA Enhancement Act of 2017," which extends and makes permanent several provisions of the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA); and
  • H.R. 3949, the "Veterans Apprenticeship and Labor Opportunity Reform (VALOR) Act of 2017," which provides for the designation of State approving agencies for multi-state apprenticeship programs for purposes of the educational assistance programs of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Federal Judge Permanently Blocks Trump Sanctuary Cities Executive Order
 
On November 20, U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of California William H. Orrick permanently blocked President Trump's January 25 Executive Order 13768 halting certain federal funds for so-called sanctuary cities, calling it "unconstitutional on its face." The injunction comes after Judge Orrick issued  a temporary ruling on April 25 that blocked Trump's directive to withhold some federal funding from cities that refuse to comply fully with federal immigration enforcement, siding with San Francisco and Santa Clara County. The California municipalities had sued over the order, arguing that more than $2 billion in federal funding could be at stake. It is not yet clear whether the Trump Administration is preparing to appeal the ruling, but the Justice Department said it plans to "vindicate the President's lawful authority to direct the executive branch."  Read more...
CFPB Director Richard Cordray Resigns, Leading to Showdown Over Acting Directorship
 
On November 24, Richard Cordray, the 1st Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), resigned from his position after serving in the post for nearly six years. The CFPB Director has unilateral authority to set fines and enforce a broad range of laws governing mortgages, credit cards, student loans and other consumer financial products. Immediately before resigning, Cordray announced that he had appointed his Chief of Staff, Leandra English, as the CFPB's new Deputy Director, which also made her the Acting CFPB Director upon Cordray's resignation, until the Senate confirms a new Director, according to the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act. However, President Trump also announced on Nov. 24 that he had appointed White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Mick Mulvaney to serve concurrently as the Acting CFPB Director, under the 1998 Federal Vacancies Reform Act. On Nov. 26, English sued President Trump, asking for a temporary restraining order to prevent Trump from appointing Mulvaney Acting Director . U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, one of two newly confirmed Trump appointees on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, is slated to take up the case; a hearing is scheduled for Monday afternoon. Read more...
Trump Announces Ten Nominees to Key Administration Positions
 
Last week, President Trump announced his intent to nominate 10 individuals to key positions in his Administration:
  • Phyllis Bayer to be an Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Installations, Energy, and the Environment;
  • Erik Bethel to be U.S. Alternate Executive Director of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development;
  • David Fischer to be U.S. Ambassador to Morroco;
  • Joseph Macmanus to be U.S. Ambassador to Colombia;
  • Judy Shelton to be U.S. Director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development;
  • Barbara Stewart to be Chief Executive Officer for the Corporation of National Community Service;
  • James Williams to be the Chief Financial Officer of the Department of Labor;
  • Tadd Johnson to be a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation;
  • Lisa Johnson-Billy to be a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation; and
  • Jeffrey Anderson to be Director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics, Department of Justice.