Senate Passes HJ Res 124

Earlier this evening the  Senate took up the FY 2015 Continuing Resolution, HJ Res 124 and passed it with a bipartisan vote of 78 to 22. Eight Republicans joined 14 Democrats in voted in voting against the bill. Once the President signs the bill the government will remain funded through December 11^th.

As passed the bill has some relatively vague to provisions supporting select anti-Assad rebels. It also includes an extension of the CFATS to that same December date.

There is still a chance that some of the individual spending bills might be taken up after the election, but most will probably be lumped together in an omnibus spending bill.

House Passes HR 2775 to End Shutdown

This evening the House accepted the Senate amendment to HR 2775, the newly renamed Continuing Appropriations Act, 2014, by a bipartisan vote of 285-144 (all 144 noes were Republicans). Shortly thereafter, the House adopted S Con Res 24 providing for a one week break for the two bodies. The House will be back in session on October 22^nd.

Senate Passes Bill to End Fiscal Fiasco and Extend Debt Limit

This afternoon the Senate passed a revised version of HR 2775 that would act as a continuing resolution to put a temporary stop to the federal funding fiasco and would also extend the current debt limit. It would not put an end to either problem; it is just a short term band aid to get the government operating while Congress continues to battle over the final spending bill for FY 2014. The bill passed in the Senate by a necessary bipartisan vote of 81 to 18.

Bill Provisions

The new language would generally extend the FY 2013 spending limits (with sequester) until January 15, 2014 and has a an effective date of October 1^st. This provision {§118} provides continuity for  programs like CFATS that operate on an authorization that is specifically tied to a spending bill.

The CFATS authorization extension is specifically addressed §131 using the standard language for spending bills. In this case the CFATS authority would be extended until January 15^th, 2014.

A lot of other things have been added to this bill that were missing from the various versions and counter-versions of HJ Res 59. This isn’t unusual; there is still horse trading going on the get people to sign-off on the revised language.

House Response

News reports earlier in the day indicated that Rep. Boehner had told the Senate leadership that he would allow a straight-up vote on this measure if it passed in the Senate. There has not yet been a notice of a meeting of the House Rules Committee to formulate the rule (obviously a closed rule with limited debate and no amendments) for the consideration of this bill and there is not yet any mention of this specific bill on the Majority Leader’s web site. The bill was added, however, to the Clerk of the House’s Bills to be Considered page.

BTW: Selection of HR 2775 as the vehicle for the Senate bill is just a tad bit sarcastic. The bill was originally the No Subsidies Without Verification Act that was passed in the House last month. Thus the bill was one of a large numbers of bills that the House Republicans used to try to gut the Obamacare legislation.

Moving Forward

Stripping it of its insurance provisions and effectively not including any of the demands of the conservative faction of the Republican Party is a real slap in the face to those who engineered the government shutdown. No we will just have to wait and see how it is received in the House; too  close to call at this point.

Alternative CR Offered by Graves

Yesterday Rep. Graves (R,GA) introduced HJ Res 62, the Stability,  Security, and Fairness Resolution of 2013, as an alternative to the Continuing Resolution that was offered earlier this week by the Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. According. The GAO has not yet printed an official copy of this Alternative Continuing Resolution (ACR), but Rep. Graves has made a draft copy available on his web site. The bill would continue funding through September 30, 2014 {§106}.

According to his press release, the Graves ACR includes “the Defense [HR 2397], Homeland Security [HR 2217] and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs appropriations bills for FY2014 as passed by the House” {see §111}. This would mean that the CFATS program would be extended through October 4^th 2014 at current funding levels, with $20,000,000 withheld pending reports to the House Appropriations Committee.

The main part of this bill that makes could make this a viable alternative is the fact that it defunds the Obama healthcare rules until 2015 {§114}. The main sticking point delaying the consideration of the ‘official’ CR is the conservative opposition to the inclusion of funds in the CR for ‘Obamacare’. A one year defunding is a compromise of sorts. This may make this passable in the House, but it is not clear that it would pass muster in the Senate. I suspect that the Senate would remove §114 before they passed this bill.

It will be interesting to see which version, CR or ACR, goes to the House Appropriations Committee next week.

Congressional Hearings – Week of 9-8-13

Well Congress actually came back to work yesterday, three days before their scheduled return from the summer recess because of the problems with Syria and use of chemical munitions. That will continue to dominate the news, but there are other things of import going on in Washington including two hearings that might be of interest to the chemical and cyber security communities; both deal with the Homeland Security enterprise.

Homeland Security Enterprise

On Tuesday the House Homeland Security Committee will hold a hearing to take a look at the “Crisis in Syria: Implications for Homeland Security”. The witnesses include:

• Reuel Marc Gerecht , Foundation for Defense of Democracies;

• Joseph I. Lieberman, Former Senator from the State of Connecticut;

• General Robert H. Scales Jr. , Former Commandant of the US Army War College; and

• Christopher Shays, Former Representative in Congress from the 4th District of Connecticut

On Wednesday the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will be holding a hearing to look at “DHS at 10 Years: Examining Challenges and Achievements and Addressing Emerging Threats”. The witnesses include:

• Thomas J. Ridge, Former Secretary of DHS;

• Jane Harman, Former Representative from the State of California;

• Admiral Thad W. Allen, Former Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard; and

• Stewart A. Baker, Former Assistant Secretary for Policy at the DHS

The subject of Syria and the topic of asymmetric response will almost certainly be raised in both hearings. If the Congress authorizes the use of military force against Syria, potential response could include attempts at serious cyber-attacks against the homeland by either Syria or Iran and the possibility of chemical attacks (either with smuggled CW or improvised CW or industrial CW) on US interests abroad or possibly here at home. The first will probably receive some attention in these hearings, but I suspect the second will conveniently be ignored.

FY 2014 Budget

It looks like the leadership in the House and Senate has officially given up on passing any of the FY 2014 spending bills. The House Majority Leader’s web site notes that the later in the week the House will consider “H.J.Res. __ - Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2014 (Subject to a Rule) (Sponsored by Appropriations Committee)”. This CR has apparently not yet been drafted, but it will almost certainly continue the authorization for the CFATS program through the life of the CR (no later than December 20^th).  It will almost certainly continue program funding across the board at FY 2013 levels. I’ll keep an eye out for the Rules Committee Hearing on this CR.

It is unusual for a CR to be introduced this early in the month, but the House Leadership knows that there is no guarantee that they will have the votes necessary to pass the bill. Introducing it this early will allow them a second and maybe third chance before October 1^st.