Bills Introduced – 10-31-13

With the House preparing to head home for another long district week (to be back in Washington on 11-12-13) a large number of bills were introduced, many just for the purpose of campaigning while back home. Of the 95 bills and resolutions introduced yesterday, three might be of interest to readers of this blog:

HR 3381 Latest Title: To authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2014 for intelligence and intelligence-related activities of the United States Government, the Community Management Account, and the Central Intelligence Agency Retirement and Disability System, and for other purposes. Sponsor: Rep Rogers, Mike J. (R,MI)

HR 3410 Latest Title: To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to secure critical infrastructure against electromagnetic pulses, and for other purposes. Sponsor: Rep Franks, Trent (R,AZ)

HJ RES 100 Latest Title: Making further continuing appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2014, and for other purposes. Sponsor: Rep Miller, George (D,CA)

While most commentators will be looking at the Intel Authorization bill for restrictions on the use of electronic surveillance in the US, I will be watching for various cybersecurity provisions.

While an EMP attack could be devastating, the cost of defending against this type of low probability attack would be quite high. It will be interesting to see how this bill addresses the situation.

It seems a bit early to see the next round of Continuing Resolutions being introduced. Since Rep. Miller is a Democrat and is neither a member of the Appropriations nor Budget Committees, this bill has zero chance of being considered. So, this bill was introduced solely for home district consumption. Still it might be interesting to see what it includes.

Another Possible House Revision to HJ Res 59

Earlier this evening the House Rules Committee was scheduled to meet to discuss the rule for the consideration of another response to the Senate Amendment to HJ Res 59. The meeting was postponed at the last minute, subject to the recall of the Chair. According to the Rules Committee web page the new version (IV) of the proposed language to HJ Res 59:

“Extends the continuing resolution at sequester levels through December 15, 2013; extends the debt limit through February 7, 2014 and eliminates "extraordinary measures" [bookkeeping games currently being played to extend the current debt limit] through April 15, 2014; and ensures that members of Congress, the President, Vice-President, Members of the President's cabinet, political appointees within the Adiministration [sic], White House Staff, and congressional staff from Member's personal, committee, and leadership offices may only purchase their insurance from the Obamacare Exchanges without any subsidy.”

The now standard CFATS language of §122 has been modified to add a new paragraph (b): “This section shall take effect as though enacted on September 30, 2013.” Similar language was added for each section that similarly extended specific authorization for a variety of other programs that have also specifically missed their spending bill based program authorization. This is a heartening move for supporters of the CFATS program as it indicates a specific willingness to keep the program funded and moving forward.

There is currently no on-line indication of if/when the House Rules Committee will actually meet to consider the rule for bringing this measure to the House floor. Various news report (including) indicate that the current delay in the Rules Committee consideration is due to the lack of support for the measure from conservative Republicans, leaving the proposal without enough votes to pass in the House.

The Rules Committee could still meet early tomorrow to consider this proposed language or some alternative. It seems likely that the Senate will also resume discussions to develop a new alternative to the current language from either the House or Senate.

Closed Rule Adopted for HJ Res 59 – CR

Late yesterday evening (Wednesday) the House Rules Committee adopted a closed rule for the consideration of HJ Res 59, the Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2014. This means that probably later today the House will have one hour of debate on the Rule (H Res 352) which will pass on a party line vote. Then there will be one hour of debate on the CR and it will pass on a party line vote. The ball will be dropped in the Senate’s court.

CR Provisions Changed

The rule adds an amendment to the version of HJ Res 59 that will be considered by the House. The Rules Committee site summarizes the amendment this way:

“Fully defunds Obamacare and ensures that the Government can make all principle and interest payments on the national debt and ensure the full payment of Social Security benefits in the event that the debt limit is reached. The amendment adds the text of H.R. 2682, the Defund Obamacare Act of 2013, and the text of H.R. 807 (with a modification), the Full Faith and Credit Act, to the underlying continuing resolution.”

All of the earlier portions of the bill will remain intact. This includes the specific provision extending the CFATS authorization for the duration of the CR (December 15^th, 2013) {§122}. 

Senate Actions

The Senate will not pass the CR as currently amended. If the leadership can actually get this to a floor vote, the action will include an amendment stripping the amendment made by the Rules Committee. This will allow the Republicans to force an up/down vote on Obamacare. Pro-Obamacare votes will be a campaign issue in the mid-term elections next year a number of swing States news in next year’s mid-term election.

Whether this will be enough to appease the radical wing of the party remains to be seen. If not the Republican Leadership will need a significant number of moderate Democratic votes to pass the CR after the Conference. It’s happened before during this session and it will likely happen again.

Parliamentary Move

Section 2 of the Rule would allow the House to suspend the rules to consider a bill (like a conference report) at any time during the period of 9-26-2013 thru 9-29-2013 something that is not normally allowed {Clause 1 of Rule XV) on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday.

BTW: This means that the District Work week for next week has been canceled.