Lawmakers return to Washington, D.C. this week after a one-week recess in observance of the Memorial Day holiday. After a slowdown of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 appropriations process and subsequent hold up of other floor activity prior to their departure, leaders on both sides of Capitol Hill are looking to ramp up their consideration of legislation over the next several weeks. Fewer than two dozen days of legislative business remain on the calendar before lawmakers depart for the Republican and Democratic presidential nominating conventions and their extended summer recess, and much remains to be done. This week the Senate will attempt to wrap up its consideration of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) while the House will consider a debt restructuring plan for Puerto Rico and energy-related legislation, while also attempting to resume floor consideration of FY 2017 appropriations bills.
The Senate is scheduled to return to work on Monday, when it will resume consideration of S. 2493, the FY 2017 NDAA. As noted in our last column, the chamber had hoped to complete action on the bill prior to Memorial Day, but Democratic objections and stonewalling prevented any action on the bill. Returning now following a week off, the Senate is expected to spend the bulk of the week processing amendments to the annual defense spending blueprint. Many of the amendments are likely to be controversial. As discussed in the prior column, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-AZ) has filed an amendment to the bill to provide an additional $17 billion in spending for the military without providing offsetting cuts elsewhere in the federal budget. Other amendments may attempt to strip significant reforms or new policies contained in the bill reported out of the Armed Services Committee, such as the provision that would require women to register for the Selective Service, or provisions making health care reforms, allowing commissary privatization at military bases, or reforming the acquisition process. The House of Representatives passed its version of the FY 2017 NDAA, for which the President has issued a veto threat, in May. Should the Senate wrap up its consideration and successfully pass a bill this week, a conference committee is expected to be convened to work out the differences between the two versions over the coming weeks, as congressional Republican leaders will aim to pass the bill before starting their summer break on July 15.
The House is scheduled to return to work on Tuesday and will take up 11 bills, including 6 reported out of the Natural Resources Committee, under suspension of the rules.
On Wednesday, both chambers are expected to break from their legislative work to hear an address to a joint session by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Upon resuming its legislative session, the House is scheduled to consider legislation reported out of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to improve pipeline safety and oversight. Members will consider the Protecting our Infrastructure of Pipelines and Enhancing Safety (PIPES) Act of 2016, under suspension of the rules. The Senate passed its version of the bill, S. 2276, by unanimous consent in March.
Also on Wednesday the House is expected to consider H.R. 4775, the Ozone Standards Implementation Act of 2016, subject to a rule. H.R. 4775 would delay implementation of the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2015 ozone-pollution standards to give states more time to comply and allow for permitting under the new implementation schedule. The legislation would also make changes to the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) implementation process, including changing the mandatory review of NAAQS from every five years to every 10 years. Environmentalists and industry are on opposing sides of the bill. Industry interests and a number of states support the measure, while environmental advocacy groups strongly oppose it. H.R. 4775 was reported out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee on a party-line vote. In light of the contentious nature of the issue, it is unlikely the bill will see action in the Senate once the House passes it.
On Thursday, the House is expected to turn to consideration of H.R. 5278, subject to a rule. The legislation to establish an oversight board to assist Puerto Rico restructure its $70 billion debt. After months of negotiations among leaders from both parties and the Administration, the House Natural Resources Committee approved H.R. 5278 on May 25 by a vote of 29-10. The ten “no” votes in committee were from Republican members, but the bill generally has cautious support from most members of the Republican conference. Only one amendment was adopted at the Natural Resources Committee markup, and many were debated. The approved amendments led to the inclusion of language that would prevent the use of any federal funds towards paying down or buying Puerto Rican debt or liability. The amendment may soften lingering concerns of many conservatives, who feared support for the debt restructuring package would appear as a “bailout.” On the Democratic side, the bill has also produced a split. Led by presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and Illinois Representative Luis Gutierrez, who is Puerto Rican, many Democrats see the bill as taking away too much authority from Puerto Rico’s elected leaders. Even on the island itself, the bill has caused a split among elected leaders. Although there are provisions of the bill members of each party dislike, the urgency of the need to help Puerto Rico address its insolvency appears to have brought enough members together to allow the bill to move forward. House passage would be a significant political win for House Speaker Paul Ryan, who has staked much political capital on securing enactment of the legislation. The carefully negotiated legislation is expected to received adequate support for House passage this week and be sent to the Senate. With momentum from a successful House vote, the Senate is likely to turn to the bill this month in an effort to pass and send the legislation to the President prior to the impending July 1 date when Puerto Rico faces a $2 billion debt payment it cannot make.
Following the Puerto Rico bill, the House is expected to take up two disapproval resolutions, both subject to a rule. The first resolution is H. Con. Res. 112 , expressing the sense of Congress in opposition to the President’s proposed $10 tax on every barrel of oil, and the second is H. Con. Res. 89, expressing the sense of Congress that a national carbon tax would be detrimental to the U.S. economy.
The final item on the House’s busy floor agenda this week is H.R. 5325, the Legislative Branch Appropriations Act for FY 2017, a $3.48 billion bill that provides funding for House members’ offices, House committees, congressional support agencies, Capitol Police, services for visitors to the Capitol complex, and Capitol operations and maintenance. Whether the typically non-controversial legislative branch funding bill can obtain House approval without getting bogged down by partisan amendments remains to be seen. House and Senate leaders began the annual appropriations season by pledging an open amendment process. That policy has led to disruptions in the consideration of bills on the floors of both chambers. Ultimately, it produced an embarrassing failure for House Republican leaders when an amendment prohibiting discrimination by federal contractors on the basis of sexual orientation was passed and added to the Energy & Water Appropriations bill. The inclusion of the amendment led to widespread Republican opposition to the final bill, which was defeated on the House floor. As a result of the defeat of the Energy & Water bill, House Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions (R-TX) informed members that advance notice will be required for any amendments to be offered to the legislative branch funding bill, although at this stage there is no effort being made to prevent any amendment from being offered. Consideration of H.R. 5325 will be subject to a rule.
Committees will have a busy week on both sides of the Capitol. The Senate Appropriations Committee markup process for the 12 annual bills continues even with House floor consideration uncertain. This week the Senate Appropriations Committee will take up the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education funding bill, which is the largest annual spending bill. The subcommittee will hold its markup on Tuesday morning, and the full committee is scheduled to meet to mark up the bill on Thursday morning.
The head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Peter Neffenger will be among the witnesses appearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Tuesday morning. The committee will be discussing passenger screening procedures at airports across the country and the long wait times at TSA checkpoints during the summer travel season. Although the agency received praise for its operations during the Memorial Day weekend, questions and concerns about passenger screenings and security remain. An internal investigation by the Department of Homeland Security, the results of which were released last year, also found security failures at numerous U.S. airports where undercover investigators were able to smuggle weapons and fake explosives past TSA checkpoints. The Department of Homeland Security Inspector General John Roth is also scheduled to appear as a witness at the hearing.
U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx will be the sole witness testifying before the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee on Wednesday regarding the implementation of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, the bipartisan five-year reauthorization of surface transportation agencies and programs enacted last December.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is holding four high profile events this week. After delaying the highly anticipated markup of Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), the Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to meet again Thursday morning to consider the bill. Concerns over amendments to the carefully negotiated bill led Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) to postpone the initial markup rather than hold a vote in order to try to find compromise on the two amendments. It is unclear whether disagreements over the amendments have been worked during the recess or whether Chairman Grassley is still navigating a path forward. The House passed its version of the legislation unanimously in April.
A Tuesday Judiciary Committee hearing is scheduled regarding synthetic drugs, a topic that has been widely discussed during the 114th Congress and timely this week, after the death of music legend Prince has been confirmed as an opioid overdose. Witnesses at the hearing include Chuck Rosenberg, Acting Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and Michael Botticelli, Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). Also on Tuesday, a Judiciary Subcommittee will hold a hearing on the fate of art objects looted from private individuals by the Nazis. On Wednesday, the Immigration Subcommittee will hold a hearing on the H-2B temporary foreign worker visa program and its effect on U.S. workers’ wages and job opportunities.
The flow of money to finance terror networks and operations is the topic of two hearings this week. On Wednesday, the House Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing on terror funding streams from South America. On Thursday afternoon the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade and the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities will hold a joint hearing on the war on terror finance, with officials from the Departments of State and Treasury and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services providing testimony.
Also on Thursday, the House Education and Workforce Committee will consider the Department of Labor’s new rules that would significantly increase the number of American workers that would be eligible for overtime pay. The final rules, which would go into effect in December, would increase the amount of overtime pay for eligible salaried employees working more than 40 hours a week from $23,660 to $47,476. Businesses have been vocal in their opposition to the new rules, arguing they will have a negative effect on the economy. Republicans in the House and Senate have already introduced legislation (S. 2707/H.R. 4773) that would overturn the rules. The Education and Workforce Committee hearing will focus on the impact of the Labor Department rules on small business, non-profits, students, and workers.
Russia’s aggressive behavior and military aggression in Ukraine are topics of a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Tuesday. With relations between the west and Russia returning to Cold War-era lows, it is not clear at this point whether any legislation boosting Ukraine or increasing sanctions on Russia will come out of the hearing.
The full hearing schedule for the week ahead is included below:
Tuesday, June 7, 2016
House Committees
H.R. 3299, the “Strengthening Public Health Emergency Response Act of 2015”; and H.R. 921, the “Sports Medicine Licensure Clarity Act of 2015”
House Energy and Commerce – Subcommittee on Health
Subcommittee Markup
5 p.m.
International Antitrust Enforcement: China and Beyond
House Judiciary – Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law
Subcommittee Hearing
4 p.m.
VA and Academic Affiliations: Who Benefits?
House Veterans’ Affairs – Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
Subcommittee Hearing
4:15 p.m.
Senate Committees
Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations
Senate Appropriations – Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies
Subcommittee Markup
10:30 a.m.
Bank Capital and Liquidity Regulation
Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs
Full Committee Hearing
10 a.m.
Rethinking TSA Operations to Improve Passenger Screening and Address Threats to Aviation
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
Full Committee Hearing
10 a.m.
Deadly Synthetic Drugs: The Need to Stay Ahead of Poison Peddlers
Senate Judiciary
Full Committee Hearing
10 a.m.
Oversight of EPA Unfunded Mandates
Senate Environment and Public Works – Subcommittee on Superfund, Waste Management and Regulatory Oversight
Subcommittee Hearing
2:30 p.m.
Russian Violations of Borders, Treaties, and Human Rights
Senate Foreign Relations
Full Committee Hearing
2:15 p.m.
Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act
Senate Judiciary – Subcommittee on the Constitution
Subcommittee Hearing
1 p.m.
Wednesday, June 8, 2016
House Committees
Examining Terror Funding Streams from South America
House Financial Services – Investigate Terrorism Financing Task Force
Subcommittee Hearing
9 a.m.
Private Sector Weather Forecasting: Assessing Products and Technologies
House Science, Space and Technology – Subcommittee on Environment
Subcommittee Hearing
9:30 a.m.
H.R.3299, the “Strengthening Public Health Emergency Response Act of 2015”; and H.R.921, the “Sports Medicine Licensure Clarity Act of 2015”
House Energy and Commerce – Subcommittee on Health
Subcommittee Markup
2 p.m.
Pending Legislation
House Homeland Security
Full Committee Markup
2 p.m.
Legislation to Improve and Sustain the Medicare Program
House Ways and Means – Subcommittee on Health
Subcommittee Hearing
2 p.m., 1100 Longworth Bldg.
Senate Committees
Implementation of the FAST Act
Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation
Full Committee Hearing
2:30 p.m., 253 Russell Bldg.
U.S. Sanctions in Sub-Saharan Africa
Senate Foreign Relations
Full Committee Hearing
2:15 p.m.
Improving Interagency Forest Management to Strengthen Tribal Capabilities for Responding to and Preventing Wildfires
Senate Indian Affairs
Full Committee Hearing
2:15 p.m.
H-2B Temporary Foreign Worker Program: Examining the Effects on Americans’ Job Opportunities and Wages
Senate Judiciary – Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest
Subcommittee Hearing
2:30 p.m.
Pending Nominations
Senate Foreign Relations
Full Committee Hearing
4:15 p.m.
Thursday, June 9, 2016
House Committees
The Need to Control Automatic Spending and Unauthorized Programs
House Budget
Full Committee Hearing
9:30 a.m.
The Administration’s Overtime Rule and Its Consequences for Workers, Students, Nonprofits, and Small Businesses
House Education and the Workforce
Full Committee Hearing
10 a.m.
The Impact of Low Oil Prices on Energy Security
House Foreign Affairs – Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere
Subcommittee Hearing
10 a.m.
Census 2020: Examining the Readiness of Key Aspects of the Census Bureau’s 2020 Census Preparation
House Oversight and Government Reform
Full Committee Hearing
9 a.m.
Overregulation Impact on Small Banks and Rural Communities
House Small Business – Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Tax and Capital Access
Subcommittee Hearing
10 a.m.
Stopping the Money Flow: War on Terror Finance
House Foreign Affairs – Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade; House Armed Services – Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities
Committees Joint Hearing
2 p.m.
Global Impact of Nutrition and Supplements
House Foreign Affairs – Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations
Subcommittee Hearing
2 p.m.
Sri Lanka’s Democratic Transition: A New Era for the U.S.-Sri Lanka Relationship
House Foreign Affairs – Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific
Subcommittee Hearing
2 p.m.
Budget Proposal for Europe and Eurasia FY 2017
House Foreign Affairs – Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia and Emerging Threats
Subcommittee Hearing
2 p.m.
SNAP: Examining Efforts to Combat Fraud and Improve Program Integrity
House Oversight and Government Reform – Subcommittee on Government Operations
Subcommittee Hearing
2 p.m.
Senate Committees
Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations
Senate Appropriations
Full Committee Markup
10:30 a.m.
Supreme Court Stay of Clean Power Plan
Senate Environment and Public Works
Full Committee Hearing
9:30 a.m.
Revisiting the Appropriate Use of Agency Regulatory Guidance
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs – Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs and Federal Management
Subcommittee Hearing
10:45 a.m.
Pending Legislation
Senate Judiciary
Full Committee Markup
10 a.m.
Friday, June 10, 2016
House Committees
Advancing Patient Solutions for Lower Costs and Better Care
House Energy and Commerce – Subcommittee on Health
Subcommittee Hearing
9:15 a.m.
Home Appliance Energy Efficiency Standards Under the Department of Energy – Stakeholder Perspectives
House Energy and Commerce – Subcommittee on Energy and Power
Subcommittee Hearing
9:30 a.m.
18F and U.S. Digital Service Oversight
House Oversight and Government Reform – Subcommittee on Government Operations
Subcommittee Hearing
9:30 a.m.