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Author: Thornrun

Today on the Hill: Chemicals, Pesticides, Fiduciary Rule, and Catfish

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The House is teeing up a pair of votes on a toxic chemicals overhaul and a measure to exclude certain pesticides from permitting requirements, before spending the rest of the afternoon debating the fiscal 2017 Energy and Water Development spending bill (H.R. 5055). The rewrite of the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act (H.R. 2576) – which would expand the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) power to regulate chemicals and substances that are used to make consumer products – is the product of a compromise between versions of the bill that each chamber passed last year. The White House also strongly supports the measure, and assuming the House approves the bill, the Senate plans to clear the measure before leaving for the Memorial Day recess.

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Financial Services Report

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Our Take

If all goes according to plan, this week the House Resources Committee is expected to mark-up legislation to resolve the Puerto Rico fiscal crisis this week.  While the entire process is extremely fragile, assuming that the bill can survive the mark-up, it could be on the House floor as early as the week of June 7th, approved by the Senate shortly thereafter and on the President’s desk before the July 1st deadline for the next bond payment.   While the bumps in the road have been great the fact remains that this is how the proverbial sausage of legislation has traditionally been made.  The new dynamic is that there is a contingent of members of Congress unwilling seem as if they are unwilling to compromise.  As the President recently noted, democracy requires compromise, even when you are 100 percent right, because we live in a democracy not a dictatorship and in a democracy you need work with people to find middle ground, but then also be willing to publicly say “this was as good a deal as we could get.”   In this era of balkanized media sources, with ever more people getting their news from an echo chamber of their choosing, it becomes harder for Congress to reach those compromises, in part because Congress used to have to debate differences of opinion, but now it seems to have to debate differences of fact.  That said, this Puerto Rico fiscal crisis solution, if enacted, would be example that Congress still has the ability to rise to the occasion and find consensus.

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Health Policy Report

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The Week in Review

Even without a budget resolution, the House passed the first of its fiscal 2017 appropriations bills last week, as well as this year’s version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and a bill transferring Ebola funds to fight the Zika virus. On Wednesday, House lawmakers approved the $610.5 billion spending authorization (H.R. 4909) for Department of Defense (DOD) programs 277-147 after winnowing down nearly 400 submitted amendments to the annual legislation. The House version of the bill includes a provision opposed by the White House that would allocate $18 billion in war funding to Pentagon weapons programs, which may force the next president to seek emergency funding for combat operations in the Middle East and Afghanistan.

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This Week on the Hill: TSCA Rewrite, Energy-Water Approps, Zika Pesticides in House; NDAA in Senate

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This week, the Senate is set to power through their version of the fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) as the House revises a 40-year old law regulating toxic chemicals used in manufacturing and tries to come to an agreement on legislation to help Puerto Rico restructure its $70 billion debt.

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Today on the Hill: Cloture on Zika Amendments in the Senate; House to Begin NDAA Marathon

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Cloture votes on three Zika-related amendments are due in the Senate today as lawmakers decide on the amount of funding to be allocated towards fighting the virus and whether there will be a budgetary offset to pay for the package. Democrats favor funding President Obama’s full $1.9 billion request without any coinciding cuts or offsets (S. Amdt. 3898), while Republicans prefer a $1.1 billion package (S. Amdt. 3899) that would be paid for by raiding money set aside for a preventative-health fund set up by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The third amendment is a bipartisan compromise (S. Amdt. 3900) that would provide $1.1 billion without the ACA offset. 

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This Week on the Hill: Transportation-MilCon Approps, Zika, NDAA

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This week, the Senate moves on to debate a combined Transportation-HUD and Military Construction-VA spending bill that will include debate over provisions for battling the Zika virus, while the House plans for extensive floor debate on the fiscal 2017 edition of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). 

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Health Policy Report

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The Week in Review

Both chambers returned from a brief recess and enjoyed a productive week, as the Senate worked through an impasse over Iran to advance the Energy-Water Development appropriations bill, while the House put together its legislative package designed to combat opioid abuse.

Prior to the one-week recess earlier this month, the Energy-Water Development spending measure (H.R. 2028) appeared to be in danger of falling victim to partisan conflict over a proposed amendment submitted by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) that would bar the U.S. from completing a deal to purchase heavy water – a key component of certain nuclear reactors – from Iran. Democrats fiercely opposed the measure, and the amendment fell short of the 60 vote threshold it needed to be included in the bill on a 57-42 vote. The amendment’s failure allowed for senators to quickly approve the underlying bill 90-8 and send the first appropriations bill of the year to conference with the House.

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Financial Services Report

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 Looking Ahead

Near Term

  • Busy week in the House as the chamber will consider the Defense Authorization bill.  This massive legislation often includes debate on numerous amendments.
  • The House Financial Services Committee has three hearings scheduled for the week – including one the CFPB’s recently released NRPM on arbitration.
  • The Senate will continue it work on the appropriations process, as it begins on a combined Transportation-HUD and Military Construction-VA minibus appropriations bill. Included in this debate will be three Zika-related amendments, the result of weeks of negotiations on the issue between leaders of both parties and the White House.
  • A Senate Banking Subcommittee will hold a hearing on access to capital that will examine how small and mid-sized businesses are accessing (or not) funds in the wake of the financial crisis.

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This Week on the Hill: House Tackles Opioids as Senate Continues Approps Work

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Both chambers return from their brief recesses this week, with the Senate set to continue its work on the Energy-Water Development spending measure, and the House aiming to tackle a legislative package aimed at combating the emerging opioid-addiction epidemic. 

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Health Policy Report

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The Week in Review
 
With Congress out, last week was a hugely significant period in the race for the White House as Donald Trump’s resounding win in Indiana’s primary election on Tuesday forced his two remaining competitors for the Republican presidential nomination to suspend their campaigns. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Ohio Governor John Kasich both officially dropped their bids for the presidency, making Trump the presumptive Republican nominee for this November’s general election. However, even though the celebrity-turned-politician has effectively sealed the nomination, he has yet to consolidate support within his own party. Last week, former presidents George H.W. Bush and his son George W. Bush, 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, and current Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) all disavowed Trump to a varying degree, but it remains to be seen how much that will affect the candidate looking forward to July’s Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio. 

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