Insights

Today on the Hill: Congress Dashes Into Recess After Approving CR Last Night

September 29, 2016

A bipartisan deal ensuring that funding for Flint, Michigan’s water crisis is handled during the lame-duck session allowed lawmakers to quickly approve a continuing resolution (CR) maintaining current levels of government funding through Dec. 9, plus packages to combat the Zika virus and send flood aid to Louisiana and other states affected by natural disasters. Some Democrats continued to object that the Flint crisis should be handled in the CR, but most were assured that the Michigan city would ultimately receive at least $170 million in federal aid through the Water Development Resources Act. The Senate passed the bill (H.R. 5325) 72-26 before the House sent the measure to the president’s desk on a 342-85 vote. The remaining holdouts mostly consisted of conservative lawmakers who had wanted a longer-term CR to avoid negotiating an omnibus in the lame-duck session.

Most of the package had been hammered out before the Flint deal was struck, notably including language to provide $1.1 billion in the fight against Zika and leaving other contentious riders such as prohibiting the Obama Administration from completing an internet oversight transition plan. However, both sides scored minor victories, with Democrats ensuring that Zika funding could go to Planned Parenthood clinics and Republicans inserting an extension of statutory language preventing the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from completing a rule requiring corporations to disclose their political spending. Most importantly, the smooth passage through both chambers ensure that the government will avoid a shutdown at the end of the fiscal year on Friday.

House and Senate lawmakers also made headlines yesterday for completing the first veto override of the Obama presidency on legislation (S. 2040) that would allow victims of the Sept. 11 attacks to sue the Saudi Arabian government. Both chambers easily cleared the two-thirds hurdle required to override a presidential veto, with the Senate voting 97-1 and the House 348-77. The bill will now become law and lawmakers will be hoping that the White House’s fears of legal retaliation against U.S. soldiers and diplomats were overblown.

Passing the stopgap spending bill marks the last legislative work either chamber will do before Election Day. The House is not in session today and while the Senate will technically convene, the chamber will not be holding any votes. The House Financial Services Committee, however, is still scheduled to hold a highly anticipated hearing to grill Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf about the findings by federal regulators that the bank opened 2 million unauthorized accounts to meet sales targets. Senate Banking Committee members from both parties sharply criticized the embattled CEO last week, with liberal firebrand Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) calling for Stumpf to resign and for the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation. Despite recent announcements from Wells Fargo that it would claw back some executive pay, expect more fireworks from House lawmakers as pressure continues to grow on the nation’s third-largest bank.

Lawmakers will head to their home districts to campaign for the next five weeks ahead of Election Day on Nov. 8. Both chambers are expected to reconvene the week of Nov. 14, with negotiations on an omnibus spending measure headlining legislative action. 

‘Today on the Hill’ includes updates provided by the House and Senate majority leaders, as well information derived from publications including Bloomberg Government, The Hill, Morning Consult, Kaiser Health News, Modern Healthcare, Inside Health Policy, CQ HealthBeat, and others.