Bills Introduced – 05-26-16

Yesterday with the House and Senate preparing to leave Washington for an extended Memorial Day Weekend there were 72 bills introduced. Three of those may be of specific interest to readers of this blog:

HR 5368 To direct the Department of Transportation to issue regulations to require enhanced security measures for shipments of security sensitive material, and for other purposes. Rep. Norton, Eleanor Holmes [D-DC-At Large]

S 3000 An original bill making appropriations for the Department of Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2017, and for other purposes. Sen. Cochran, Thad [R-MS]

S 3001 An original bill making appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2017, and for other purposes. Sen. Hoeven, John [R-ND]

Norton’s bill would seem to be bypassing the surface transportation folks at TSA to put the onus for security regulations back on DOT. One can sympathize, for while DOT is slow in the rule making game, the surface transportation folks at TSA move slower than a weekend security line at the Chicago airport.

These two spending bills will probably be considered in the Senate next month. After seeing the games played in the House with the THUD spending bill, I will be surprised to see either of these bills considered in the House. We are almost certainly looking at a continuing resolution and a post-election omnibus again this year, despite the best efforts of the Senate.