Congress enters the home stretch with but few days remaining in the year within which to tackle the remaining must-pass items before the first session of the 114th Congress concludes. The schedule put out at the beginning of the year had Congress completing its work by December 18, and while members were hoping to get everything done by December 11, the amount of work that still needs to get done this year means that Congress is likely to be back in town for at least some of the week of December 14.
At the top of the list of must-pass bills is an omnibus appropriations bill that will keep the government funded and running beyond the expiration of the current short-term funding on December 11. Press reports indicate House and Senate leadership and appropriators are still far apart in negotiating the provisions of the spending bill and the policy riders that will be attached. House Democrats reportedly rejected Republicans’ first proposal last week and made a counter-offer on Wednesday evening. Several proposals related to Syrian refugees and resettlement, repealing provisions of the Affordable Care Act and financial regulations, and energy policy have emerged as hurdles to the completion of a final draft. The current state of negotiations may require another short-term extension of current funding before midnight on Friday.
While waiting for the omnibus appropriations measure to be resolved, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy has indicated a number of other year-end items could come up for a vote this week, including the Senate-passed budget reconciliation bill, which would repeal large portions of the Affordable Care Act and prohibit any federal funding to Planned Parenthood for one year. Although the House already passed a budget reconciliation bill, it needs to approve the Senate-amended legislation before it can be sent to the White House, where it will most certainly receive a veto from President Obama. Among other provisions, the reconciliation bill would repeal the authority for the federal government to run healthcare exchanges and would phase out, over two years, the major expansion of Medicaid that occurred under the law. The reconciliation measure would also remove the penalty for individuals who do not have insurance and business owners or employers who opt not to provide health insurance. Though the bill will be vetoed, Republicans are likely to use the vote as messaging opportunity in the upcoming election year against the President’s signature accomplishment and against Democratic candidates.
One item that the House could take up this week includes a conference report to the trade enforcement and customs bill. Last week, the House approved a motion to go to conference with the Senate on the legislation, which is the remaining piece of a major trade package considered by Congress earlier this year.
Another bill that legislators hope to tackle before adjourning for the year is a measure to renew a number of tax provisions that are temporary and need to be reauthorized or allowed to expire. Last year Congress came close to striking a deal to make several of the tax breaks permanent, but that deal fell apart, and eventually the provisions were renewed retroactively for a year, requiring Congress to tackle the so-called tax extenders bill again this year. Press reports indicate staff for the House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee have been engaged in negotiations in recent weeks to develop a bipartisan deal before the end of the year. The deal would once again seek to make permanent a number of the provisions, some of which (especially various tax incentives for businesses) enjoy strong Republican backing and others (primarily tax benefits for the working poor) enjoy strong support among Democrats. Whether a deal can be struck to make any of the provisions permanent or not, Congress aims to pass a bill this year that extends beyond a single year in order to provide some certainty to businesses and people seeking to engage in future tax planning.
While the spending bill, the customs bill, and the tax extenders bill are being negotiated, Congress will busy itself with other legislative matters. The House of Representatives is scheduled to return on Monday and tackle 15 bills under suspension of the rules on Monday and Tuesday. Among these is H.R. 158, the Visa Waiver Program Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act of 2015, bipartisan legislation sponsored by rep. Candace Miller (R-MI) designed to help the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) identify and stop terrorists from countries in the visa waiver program from entering the United States. Current policy allows tourists from 38 countries with which the U.S. has reciprocal arrangements for U.S. citizens to enter the U.S. for up to 90 days without having to obtain a visa. The legislation being considered by the House would prevent participation in the program for individuals who have traveled to Iraq, Syria, Iran or Sudan since 2011, or those who have dual citizenship with one of those countries in addition to holding citizenship in a visa-waiver country. Those persons from visa waiver nations who meet the bill’s criteria could still enter the U.S., but only after obtaining a visa. In addition, H.R. 158 would allow DHS to suspend partner countries from the visa waiver program if they do not sufficiently share counterterrorism information or if they are determined to pose a high risk to U.S. national security. The legislation was approved by the House Homeland Security Committee unanimously in June. Last week, the Obama Administration announced several administrative steps that would be taken to tighten the visa waiver program, and encouraged Congress to take legislative action. Last Tuesday, Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ) also introduced legislation in the Senate designed to improve the security of the Visa Waiver Program. Once the House passes the visa waiver bill, it may enable appropriations negotiators to sidestep some of the thorny counter-terrorism issues in their discussions.
After consideration of the visa waiver legislation and the other suspensions, the House is expected to take up H.R. 2130, the Red River Private Property Protection Act sponsored by Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX) under a rule. That is currently the only legislation currently scheduled by House leaders for floor consideration. Action on the Senate-passed reconciliation bill is likely going to be the next item on the House agenda, because it is ready for House consideration.
Once that bill is disposed of, the House will likely be waiting to address the bills discussed above in order to conclude its work for the year. If those bills can be resolved early enough in the week, the House could seek to remain in session into the weekend in order to complete action on all of the measures. Based on media reports and leaks regarding the state of the negotiations, especially on the omnibus spending and tax extenders bills, It seems likely, however, that the House will need to return for at least an abbreviated week on December 14. If that does occur, Congress may need to pass another short-term bill to fund the government beyond December 11.
Whatever the schedule, we can disclose that one member of Congress told one of the authors last week at a small gathering that when that member inquired if he would be seeing the new Star Wars movie (scheduled for release, according to the member, on December 17) in Washington or back home in his district, the House Majority Leader advised that the member would get to see the movie at a theater in his district. That snippet suggests that House leaders plan to have all their work done for the year before December 17.
The Senate is also scheduled to return on Monday with a vote on a judicial nomination. Members will then turn their attention to the conference report on the proposed reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Last week, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell filed cloture on the motion to proceed to the House-Senate conference report on the reauthorization, which would make changes to President Bush’s No Child Left Behind law that expired in 2007. The new bill, the Every Student Succeeds Act, largely shifts education authority from the federal government to states and localities. A cloture vote in the Senate can be expected on Tuesday and a vote on final passage should follow shortly thereafter. The Senate passed its version of the reauthorization earlier this year by a vote of 81-17. The conference report was approved by the House of Representatives last week, by an overwhelmingly supportive 359-64 vote.
As mentioned above, should the House pass a continuing resolution to allow for further negotiations on an omnibus funding package, the Senate will also need to take action to avoid a government shutdown before Friday, December 11. In addition, the Senate will need to tackle the full omnibus appropriations bill, the customs bill, and the tax extenders bill before adjourning for the year. Senate rules allow for more delays than do House procedural rules. Therefore, it is highly likely that, unless all measures that still need to be passed can receive unanimous agreement from all 100 senators, the Senate will be back for the week of December 14.
And it must be noted that there remains no assurance that the two parties will reach a deal on a spending bill. If that does not happen by next week, we may still see a short-term funding bill that goes into the new year, because there is no appetite among members of either chamber or either party to stay in Washington beyond December 18. Still no one is yet talking about that possibility; all the focus remains on getting the omnibus appropriations bill for the current fiscal year completed prior to adjournment for the year.
House and Senate hearings this week continue to focus on homeland security and the threat of terrorism in the wake of the coordinated terrorist attacks in Paris and reports that there may be an Islamic State link to the mass shooting in San Bernadino, California last week. The House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation Security will hold a Tuesday morning hearing to examine the Transportation Security Administration’s efforts to bolster security at airports serving as last points of departure to the United States. The refugee admittance process remains a congressional concern even though the House voted last week to tighten restrictions on the resettlement of Syrian refugees into the United States. A House Homeland Security Subcommittee meets Wednesday to discuss assistance to ISIS victims. The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security has scheduled a hearing Wednesday regarding oversight of U.S. Immigration and Citizenship Services after a Government Accountability Office report found the agency has only a “limited” ability to detect fraud in asylum requests from putative refugees.
The visa waiver program will not only be the subject of debate on the House floor this week, as discussed above, but also two congressional committee events. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will host a Wednesday roundtable with officials from DHS and the State Department to review methods of strengthening the visa waiver program, while the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee meets Thursday morning to discuss terrorism and the visa waiver program.
Samantha Power, the United States Permanent Representative To The United Nations, will appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to provide an update on peacekeeping efforts of the United Nations and opportunities for reform.
Also of note this week is a Tuesday Senate hearing on the state of competition in the beer industry. The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights will review the proposed merger between Anheuser-Busch InBev and SABMiller, a deal expected to have major repercussions throughout the domestic and international beer market.
Details for these hearings and other congressional hearings scheduled this week are included below:
Monday, December 7, 2015
House Committees
Restoring Atlantic Fisheries and Protecting the Regional Seafood Economy
House Natural Resources
Full Committee Field Hearing
10 a.m., Suffolk County Community College Culinary Arts Center, 20 East Main Street, Multipurpose Room, Riverhead, N.Y.
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
House Committees
An Overdue Checkup Part II: Examining ACA State Insurance Marketplaces
House Energy and Commerce – Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
Subcommittee Hearing
Dec. 8, 10 a.m., 2322 Rayburn Bldg.
Oversight of the Financial Stability Oversight Council
House Financial Services
Full Committee Hearing
10 a.m., 2128 Rayburn Bldg.
Ensuring Certainty for Royalty Payments on Federal Resource Production
House Natural Resources – Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources
Subcommittee Hearing
10 a.m., 1324 Longworth Bldg.
Tribal Recognition Act
House Natural Resources – Subcommittee on Indian, Insular and Alaska Native Affairs
Subcommittee Hearing
11 a.m., 1334 Longworth Bldg.
Review of the New London Embassy Project
House Oversight and Government Reform
Full Committee Hearing
10 a.m., 2154 Rayburn Bldg.
The Future of Biotechnology: Solutions for Energy Agriculture and Manufacturing
House Science, Space and Technology – Subcommittee on Research and Technology
Subcommittee Hearing
10 a.m., 2318 Rayburn Bldg.
Legislative Hearing
House Veterans’ Affairs – Subcommittee on Health
Subcommittee Hearing
10 a.m., 334 Cannon Bldg.
Prompt Global Strike: American and Foreign Developments
House Armed Services – Subcommittee on Strategic Forces
Subcommittee Hearing
2 p.m., 2212 Rayburn Bldg.
Civil Nuclear Cooperation with Pakistan
House Foreign Affairs – Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade
Subcommittee Hearing
2 p.m., 2172 Rayburn Bldg.
Drug Resistant Tuberculosis: The Next Global Health Crisis?
House Foreign Affairs – Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations
Subcommittee Hearing
2 p.m., 2200 Rayburn Bldg.
Examining TSAs Global Efforts to Protect the Homeland from Aviation Threats and Enhance Security
House Homeland Security – Subcommittee on Transportation Security
Subcommittee Hearing
1 p.m., 311 Cannon Bldg.
Examining the Stream Protection Rule
House Oversight and Government Reform – Subcommittee on the Interior
Subcommittee Hearing
2 p.m., 2154 Rayburn Bldg.
MAP-21 Program Consolidation
House Oversight and Government Reform
Full Committee Hearing
2 p.m., 2247 Rayburn Bldg.
Senate Committees
Pentagon’s Development of Policy, Strategy, and Plans
Senate Armed Services
Full Committee Hearing
9:30 a.m., G-50 Dirksen Bldg.
National Park Service Centennial, S. 2257
Senate Energy and Natural Resources
Full Committee Hearing
10 a.m., 366 Dirksen Bldg.
Business Meeting
Senate Foreign Relations
Full Committee Markup
10 a.m., 419 Dirksen Bldg.
Millennium Challenge Corporation: Lessons Learned after a Decade and Outlook for the Future
Senate Foreign Relations
Full Committee Hearing
10:30 a.m., 419 Dirksen Bldg.
Opioid Abuse in America
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
Full Committee Hearing
10 a.m., 430 Dirksen Bldg.
Examining the AB InBev/SABMiller Merger and the State of Competition in the Beer Industry
Senate Judiciary – Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights
Subcommittee Hearing
10 a.m., 226 Dirksen Bldg.
Data or Dogma? Promoting Open Inquiry in the Debate over the Magnitude of Human Impact on Earth’s Climate
Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation – Subcommittee on Space, Science and Competitiveness
Subcommittee Hearing
3 p.m., 253 Russell Bldg.
Wednesday, December 9, 2015
House Committees
Commodity in Focus: Stress in Cotton Country
House Agriculture – Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management
Subcommittee Hearing
10 a.m., 1300 Longworth Bldg.
Farmer’s Personal Financial Information Access
House Agriculture – Subcommittee on Biotechnology, Horticulture and Research
Subcommittee Hearing
10 a.m., 1302 Longworth Bldg.
Worker/Job Creator Regulatory Relief
House Education and the Workforce
Full Committee Hearing
10 a.m., 2261 Rayburn Bldg.
Examining Legislation to Improve Health Care and Treatment
House Energy and Commerce – Subcommittee on Health
Subcommittee Hearing
10 a.m., 2123 Rayburn Bldg.
H.R. 1654, H.R. 3654, and H.R. 4154
House Foreign Affairs
Full Committee Markup
10 a.m., 2172 Rayburn Bldg.
Oversight Hearing on the Department of the Interior’s Role in the EPA’s Animas Spill
House Natural Resources
Full Committee Hearing
10 a.m., 1324 Longworth Bldg.
Supporting Success: Empowering Small Business Advocates
House Small Business
Full Committee Hearing
11 a.m., TBA
Fact Check: An End of Year Review of Accountability at the Department of Veterans Affairs
House Veterans’ Affairs
Full Committee Hearing
10:30 a.m., 334 Cannon Bldg.
Military Survivor/Dependent Benefits
House Armed Services – Subcommittee on Military Personnel
Subcommittee Hearing
2 p.m., 2118 Rayburn Bldg.
Future of Surface Warfare
House Armed Services – Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces
Subcommittee Hearing
3:30 p.m., 2118 Rayburn Bldg.
Fulfilling the Humanitarian Imperative: Assisting ISIS Victims
House Foreign Affairs – Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations
Subcommittee Hearing
2 p.m., 2255 Rayburn Bldg.
U.S.-Western Hemisphere Policy
House Foreign Affairs – Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere
Subcommittee Hearing
2 p.m., 2200 Rayburn Bldg.
Citizenship and Immigration Services Oversight
House Judiciary – Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security
Subcommittee Hearing
1 p.m., 2141 Rayburn Bldg.
Recreation/Conservation Legislation
House Natural Resources – Subcommittee on Federal Lands
Subcommittee Hearing
2 p.m., 1334 Longworth Bldg.
A Casino in Every Smartphone – Law Enforcement Implications
House Oversight and Government Reform
Full Committee Hearing
1 p.m., 2154 Rayburn Bldg.
Senate Committees
Moving to a Stronger Economy with a Regulatory Budget
Senate Budget
Full Committee Hearing
10:30 a.m., 608 Dirksen Bldg.
Pending Business
Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation
Full Committee Markup
10 a.m., 253 Russell Bldg.
UN Peacekeeping Opportunities/Reform
Senate Foreign Relations
Full Committee Hearing
9:30 a.m., 419 Dirksen Bldg.
Business Meeting
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
Full Committee Markup
9:30 a.m., 342 Dirksen Bldg.
Strengthening the Visa Waiver Program After the Paris Attacks
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
Full Committee Business Meeting
11 a.m., 342 Dirksen Bldg.
Pending Nominations – Department of Defense
Senate Armed Services
Full Committee Hearing
2 p.m., 106 Dirksen Bldg.
Burundi Political/Security Crisis
Senate Foreign Relations – Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health Policy
Subcommittee Hearing
2:30 p.m., 419 Dirksen Bldg.
FBI Oversight
Senate Judiciary
Full Committee Hearing
10 a.m., 226 Dirksen Bldg.
Pending Judicial Nominations
Senate Judiciary
Full Committee Hearing
2 p.m., 226 Dirksen Bldg.
Sudden Price Spikes in Off-Patent Drugs: Perspectives from the Front Lines
Senate Special Aging
Full Committee Hearing
2:30 p.m., G-50 Dirksen Bldg.
Thursday, December 10, 2015
House Committees
An Overview of the Nation’s Weather Satellite Programs and Policies
House Science, Space and Technology – Subcommittee on Environment
Subcommittee Hearing
Dec. 10, 10 a.m., 2318 Rayburn Bldg.
Terrorism and the Visa Waiver Program
House Oversight & Government Reform
Full Committee Hearing
9 a.m., 2154 Rayburn Bldg.
Senate Committees
Increasing Effectiveness of Military Operations
Senate Armed Services
Full Committee Hearing
9:30 a.m., G-50, U.S. Capitol
Terrorism and Global Oil Markets
Senate Energy and Natural Resources
Full Committee Hearing
10 a.m., 366 Dirksen Bldg.
Examining the Importance of Implementing GAO and Inspectors General Recommendations
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs – Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs and Federal Management
Subcommittee Hearing
10 a.m., 342 Dirksen Bldg.
Pending Nominations/Terrorism Legislation (S. 247, Expatriate Terrorist Act; S. 1318, Nuclear Terrorism Conventions Implementation and Safety of Maritime Navigation Act of 2015)
Senate Judiciary
Full Committee Markup
10 a.m., 226 Dirksen Bldg.