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Author: Thornrun

Financial Services Report

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Our Take
As we start the first day of Hanukah and are well into the Christmas season, it is worth noting that we are also seeing the height of the annual kabuki ritual that is the congressional appropriations negotiation process.  For the uninitiated it goes something like this.  The majority party make their first budget offer.  The minority party then retort that it is the most offensive thing they have seen and not a serious attempt at negotiation.  Both sides continue to talk and eventually reach a deal that infuriates the wings of each party. 

Now, fifty weeks into 2015, the first session of the 114th Congress may wrap up this week as members appear eager to leave town.  However, in order to get in before the current funding bill runs out on Friday, a couple of provisions, including riders dealing with reg relief, the DOL Fiduciary rule and a some environmental policy initiatives still need to be worked out. 

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Health Policy Report

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The Week in Review

Two major legislative packages that were negotiated for months made their way through the Senate last week, one being the conference report to the bipartisan highway funding bill (H.R. 22) and the other being the highly partisan budget reconciliation measure (H.R. 3762) that would defund Planned Parenthood and dismantle the Affordable Care Act (ACA). On Thursday, Senators approved the conference report to the highway funding bill (H.R. 22) by a vote of 83-16; previously, the measure had sailed through the House by a vote 359-65. With the Highway Trust Fund’s spending authorization expiring last Friday at midnight, the bill was quickly ushered to the White House for President Obama to sign it into law. The five-year, $305 billion measure reauthorizes the collection of the 18.4 cents per gallon gas tax that is typically dedicated to the Highway Trust Fund and adds $70 billion in miscellaneous pay-fors, including tapping surplus funds from the Federal Reserve and eliminating an annual dividend banks get for owning shares of Fed regional banks. Additionally, the bill included a renewal of the Export-Import Bank’s charter through the 2019 fiscal year, ending a months-long debate over the bank after its charter expired in June. 

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Today on the Hill: Education and Highways Conference Reports in the House; Reconciliation Bill in the Senate

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Congress will begin on a bipartisan note this morning as the House is set to vote on the broadly backed conference report to reauthorize elementary and secondary education programs. The report to H.R. 5 would replace the George W. Bush-era No Child Left Behind law and give significantly more power to the states in setting educational standards. House lawmakers will also be reviewing a conference report to the long-negotiated highway funding bill (H.R. 22) that now provides $305 billion over five years for the nation’s transportation infrastructure. The measure will be paid for by tapping surplus funds from the Federal Reserve and eliminating an annual dividend banks get for owning shares of Fed regional banks. Additionally, the conference report would also renew the Export-Import Bank’s charter, ending a months-long debate over the bank after its charter expired in June. House-Senate agreement on the measure paves the way for consideration later this week, beating the Friday deadline for re-authorizing the Highway Trust Fund’s spending authority. 

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Health Policy Report

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The Week in Review 

The House and Senate were on recess last week in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. Both chambers are scheduled to return to Washington tomorrow. 

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Financial Services Report

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Our Take
Last week a bipartisan bill, H.R. 1737, which had been reported out of the Financial Services Committee with a majority of Democrats in support, passed the House by a vote of 332-96. (more on this bill below)
 
By all accounts, this bill should be hailed as an example of how Congress should work.  Initially drafted as an overly broad attack on the CFPB, a group of moderate Democrats worked with their Republican colleagues to reach a limited solution to specific issue with the CFPB.  Instead of praising their efforts, the debate surrounding this bill (both in private and public) exposed serious fissures in the Democratic Party, with the far left effectively calling out by name the supporters of the bill.

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Health Policy Report

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The Week in Review

After the shocking terrorist attacks in Paris, political discourse in Washington centered on crafting an appropriate response and whether any policy changes should be made regarding the Syrian refugees already set to come to the United States. Many Republicans, joined by some Democrats, expressed fear that members of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) would use the refugee program as cover for entry into the United States, leading the House to pass legislation (H.R. 4038) on Thursday that would require an extraordinarily high level of vetting for every refugee entering the US from Iraq or Syria. The bill, and the general calls from Republicans for the US to reverse its refugee program, was fiercely rebuked by President Obama, who has already issued a veto threat on the measure. Nonetheless, the bill passed by a margin of 289-137, with dozens of Democrats facing public pressure to clamp down on the refugee program, voting in favor. 

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This Week on the Hill: Highway Deadline; House Targets CFPB Rules; Senate Eyes EPA Regs

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With the current stop-gap authorization for highway funding expiring on Friday, it is now crunch time for the surface transportation bill. House-Senate conferees will work against a Friday deadline to try to quickly iron out differences on H.R. 22 and enact the first multi-year highway authorization law since 2012. However, it is likely that they will first act on another short-term extension to bide time until House and Senate negotiators can reconcile the differences in their versions of the bill. The transportation policy bill would renew highway and surface transportation programs for six years while paying for just three years. The House has expressed concerns over some of the pay-fors used to finance the Senate version of the bill, however. Further complicating matters is the recent passage of the Budget Agreement, effectively taking some of those offsets off the table. This will be the key area of negotiation in the conference committee and the result could be a much narrower bill that only extends funding into 2017 but requires Congress to revisit funding under a new President. If that happens, Congress will likely return its focus to repatriation and other tax measures to then fund a longer transportation measure. 

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Health Policy Report

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The Week in Review 

While the House enjoyed a week-long recess, the Senate was in session for Monday and Tuesday before heading home early after passing a pair of defense bills and naming highway bill conferees. On Tuesday, the Senate overwhelmingly approved (91-3) a revised defense authorization bill (S. 1356), clearing it for President Barack Obama’s signature. The House passed the same bill on November 5, which reflects the budget deal that increased fiscal year (FY) 2016 spending caps for defense and non-defense activities by $25 billion each. The revised measure authorizes about $5 billion less than original defense policy bill (H.R. 1735) that President Obama vetoed because it sidestepped budget caps. President Obama is expected to sign the revised measure despite opposition to some provisions in the bill, which continues prohibition on closing the military prison at Guantanamo Bay and on transferring detainees to the United States. 

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Financial Services Report

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Looking Ahead

Near Term

  • The Senate is in for an abbreviated session and will take up the revised NDAA as well as the Military Construction-Veterans Affairs spending bill. 
  • The House in Recess, returning for votes on the 17th

Further Out

  • House calendar for next year released.
  • Senate calendar for next year released.
  • Funding for the Federal government runs out December 11th
  • HFSC hearing on CFPB arbitration rulemaking when the House returns.
  • HFSC oversight hearing on FSOC in December.

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Health Policy Report

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The Week in Review 

Speaker Paul Ryan’s first full week on the job was a successful one as the House successfully advanced a highway funding measure (H.R. 22) that would renew highway and surface transportation programs for six years – paying for three years and leaving Congress to find funding for the second three years at a later juncture. Conferees from both chambers will attempt to hammer out differences between the two versions this week, with the lower chamber expected to take issue with some of the pay-fors included in the Senate version. The bill, which the House passed on Thursday, includes language to revive the Export-Import Bank, despite opposition from some conservative members. Lawmakers are hopeful that a long-term deal will be agreed to before the most recent short-term highway authorization expires on November 20, but another extension may be necessary if negotiations are drawn out.  

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