FY 2020 Spending Bills Passed in the House

This afternoon the House took up HR 1158 and HR 1865 the two FY 2020 spending bills. HR 1158, the DOD, CJS, FS and DHS spending bill passed by a bipartisan vote of 280 to 138; 150 Democrats and 130 Republicans voted for the bill; 75 Democrats, 62 Democrats and 1 Independent voted against. The final vote for HR 1865, the remaining spending bills lumped into one bill, was a more partisan vote of 297 to 120; 218 Democrats and 79 Republicans voting Aye; 7 Democrats, 112 Republicans and 1 Independent voting Nay.

Two big questions remain. Will the bills come to a vote in the Senate? Current betting is yes. Will the President sign the two bills? White House indicates yes, but the President’s spending decisions have been a tad bit fickle over the last three years. We will have to wait and see.

Two FY 2020 Spending Bills to be Considered Today in House

Last night the House Rules Committee adopted a rule for the consideration of two bill that had previously passed in the House and were subsequently amended and passed in the Senate and turned them into two separate FY 2020 Spending bills.

HR 1158, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020, will be the spending bill for:

• Department of Defense (Division A);

• Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (Division B);

• Financial Services And General Government (Division C); and

• Department of Homeland Security (Division D)

HR 1865, the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020, will be the spending bill for:

• Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies (Division A);

•Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies (Division B);

• Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies (Division C);

• Department of The Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies (Division D);

• Legislative Branch (Division E);

• Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies (Division F);

• Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs (Division G); and

• Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (Division H);

HR 1865 also includes a number of added measures including:

• Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Extension (Division I, Title V); and

• DHS Cyber Hunt and Incident Response Teams (Division L)

As with all spending bills the details of interest (beyond the $) will be found in the explanatory statements for each of the spending bills. I will be looking at those throughout the day.

Both bills are scheduled to be considered today. The Rule developed last night provides for limited debate on both bills (1 hour each) without amendments. Each bill will then be voted upon with a simple majority being required for passage. HR 1158 will be considered first and HR 1856 second.

It is interesting that the spending is being broken up into two bills. It looks like there may be some concern about HR 1158 passing in either the House or Senate. Keeping the controversial DOD and DHS spending in one bill would limit a potential shut down if enough votes are not available to pass these more controversial bills. And there would still technically be time for a CR to be passed to keep those agencies open.

Senate Amends and Passes HR 3055 – First Senate Minibus

Yesterday the Senate passed an amended version of HR 3055, the first Senate FY 2020 spending minibus by a bipartisan vote of 84 to 9. They first adopted 48 amendments including the substitute language offered by Sen. Shelby (R,MS); only one amendment considered was rejected.

None of the 49 amendments considered specifically addressed chemical safety, chemical security or cybersecurity concerns. Forty-five of the amendments were considered en bloc [pg S6311] under the unanimous consent process with no debate.

Next week the House may consider the Senate version of the bill. When they do, they will probably ‘insist’ on their version. A conference committee will then take up the two versions and try to work out a compromise version. There is a slight chance that this will happen before the current continuing resolution runs out on November 21^st.

It seems unlikely that the full 12 spending bills (four were included in the Senate version of HR 3055) will be passed by the 21^st. This means that we will likely (depending on the President) see another continuing resolution to keep the government working past that date. Various news reports (see here for example) claim that the CR under consideration behind closed doors will continue into next year.

Senate Begins Consideration of HR 3055 – First Senate Minibus Spending Bill

Yesterday the Senate began consideration of HR 3055. This was the second FY 2020 spending minibus passed by the House back in June. As is typical for spending bills, the first amendment to be proposed for this bill in the Senate is the substitute language from the Senate Appropriations Committee; SA 948.

This amendment would only have the Senate version consider four of the five divisions included in the House version. The Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act will be included in a later spending bill. The Senate leadership hopes that the remaining four divisions have a low enough controversy level that they will be able to be passed and sent to the House for conference with some hope of the bill actually making its way to the President’s desk before November 21^st; the end date of the current continuing resolution.

My quick review of the 43 pages this bill took up in yesterday’s Congressional Record did not turn up anything worth talking about here. Below is a quick table of contents for the bill if you are interested in looking for something in particular; please forgive the all-CAPS format, it is a simple copy and past job and I have no desire to go back and put it into a more reasonable case structure. NOTE: the 'Sxxxx numbers' are CR page numbers.

Senate Amendment 948

DIVISION A—COMMERCE AND JUSTICE, SCIENCE, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2020 [S5978]

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE [S5978]

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE [S5981]

SCIENCE [S5986]

RELATED AGENCIES [S5988]

DIVISION B—AGRICULTURE, RURAL DEVELOPMENT, FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES [S5991]

AGRICULTURAL PROGRAMS [S5991]

FARM PRODUCTION AND CONSERVATION PROGRAMS [S5994]

RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS [S5995]

DOMESTIC FOOD PROGRAMS [S5997]

FOREIGN ASSISTANCE AND RELATED PROGRAMS [S5998]

RELATED AGENCY AND FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION [S5998]

GENERAL PROVISIONS [S5999]

DIVISION C—DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, ENVIRONMENT, AND RELATED

AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2020 [S6003]

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR [S6003]

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [S6011]

RELATED AGENCIES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE [S6013]

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES [S6015]

GENERAL PROVISIONS [S6018]

DIVISION D—TRANSPORTATION, AND HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2020 [S6020]

TITLE I DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION [S6020]

FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION [S6022]

FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION [S6023]

FEDERAL MOTOR CARRIER SAFETY ADMINISTRATION [S6025]

NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION [S6026]

FEDERAL RAILROAD ADMINISTRATION [S6026]

FEDERAL TRANSIT ADMINISTRATION [S6027]

MARITIME ADMINISTRATION [S6028]

PIPELINE AND HAZARDOUS MATERIALS SAFETY ADMINISTRATION [S6029]

PIPELINE SAFETY [S6029]

TITLE II DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT [S6030]

TITLE III RELATED AGENCIES [S6041]

Committee Hearings – Week of 10-20-19

This week with both the House and Senate in session the big news is impeachment or spending. There are two House hearings of potential interest; cybersecurity threats and a homeland security markup hearing.

Cybersecurity Threats

On Tuesday the Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Innovation Subcommittee of the House Homeland Security Committee will hold a hearing, “Preparing for the Future: An Assessment of Emerging Cyber Threats”. The witness list includes:

• Ben Buchanan, Georgetown University;

• Ken Durbin, Symantec Corporation;

• Niloofar Razi Howe, New America; and

• Robert Knake, The Council on Foreign Relations

Homeland Security Markup

On Wednesday the House Homeland Security Committee will hold a markup hearing looking at a dozen bills. Bills of interest include:

• HR 3787, the DHS Countering Unmanned Aircraft Systems Coordinator Act; and

• HR 4402, the Inland Waters Security Review Act

On the Floor

Last week Sen. McConnel (R,KY) announced that the Senate would try to take up two spending bills this week; HR 3055 and HR 2740. Neither of these minibus spending bills will be considered as passed in the House. No amendments were filed last week, so it is not clear exactly what language will be included in the bill as there was significant Democratic opposition to the bills that came out of the Senate Appropriations Committee. But then again, there is no guarantee that either bill will actually be considered. Politics is getting increasingly iffy.

House Amends and Passes HR 3055 – 2nd FY 2020 Minibus

Yesterday, after dealing with well over 200 amendments, the House passed HR 3055, the second FY2020 spending minibus, by a near perfect (1 Democrat votes Nay) party line vote of 227 to 194. Both of the proposed amendments that I discussed earlier were adopted earlier this week.

Amendment Actions

The Maloney amendment (#264) was passed on Monday afternoon as part of amendment en bloc #7 by a voice vote. The amendment would encourage DOT to conduct research implementing connected vehicle and autonomous vehicle technologies at Highway-Rail Grade Crossings. There was no debate on this amendment.

The DeFazio amendment (#233) was passed later Monday afternoon after almost 10 minutes of debate. A recorded vote was requested and the amendment subsequently passed by a near party line vote (ten Democrats voted Nay and four Republicans voted Aye) of 221 to 195.

The debate was contentious, and more than a little hyperbole was used in attempts to sway the vote. At one point, Rep. DeFazio (D,OR) describes the potential results of a terrorist attack on a unit train of 100 LNG railcars, saying “It is likely it will cause a chain reaction and explosion. It is going to be about as powerful as Hiroshima if it goes off.” (pg H5053).

Rep. Price (D,NC) noted (pg H5054) that: “I want to note that the underlying bill provides $1 million for the  natural gas in rail tank cars, and it requires the Department to incorporate findings and recommendations from this study into any rulemaking on the transportation of LNG in rail tank cars before issuing a final rule authorizing such shipments.”

This requirement is outlined on page 75 of the Appropriations Committee Report (H Rept 116-106) on HR 3163, the original DOT spending bill that was incorporated into HR 3055 as Division E. That section in the Report on “LNG by Rail” concludes by stating:

“The Committee provides up to $1,000,000 for PHMSA to initiate this study within 30 days of enactment of this Act, and to complete this study no later than 18 months after enactment of this Act. Further, the Committee directs PHMSA to incorporate the findings and recommendations from this study into any potential rulemaking on the transportation of LNG in rail tank cars and prior to issuing a final rule authorizing such shipments [emphasis added].”

The DeFazio amendment would have no affect on the LNG by rail rulemaking, it specifically addresses the issuance of a Special Permit by PHMSA. That ‘special permit’ would be an interim authorization to ship liquified natural gas by rail pending the completion of the rulemaking. The inclusion of the DeFazio amenement in the bill could be a moot point; there is a chance that the special permit could be approved in this fiscal year.

Moving Forward

It still is not clear if the Senate will be taking up spending bills under regular order this year. If they take up HR 3055, they will certainly substitute language from the Senate versions of the underlying spending bills. It is very unlikely that a Senate version of this bill would include the DeFazio LNG by rail language. If/when the Senate passes their version of HR 3055, a conference committee will have to work out the differences between the two versions of the bill. There is a remote possibility that the DeFazio language could make it into an agreed upon conference version of this bill because it would only affect the approval of a Special Permit, and would not have a direct effect on the rulemaking on the mater.

Rule for Consideration of HR 2740 – First FY 2020 Minibus

Yesterday the House Rules Committee completed their work on the first rule for the consideration of HR 2740, the first FY 2020 Minibus spending bill. The rule provides for the removal of Division B (legislative branch, HR 2729) from the bill. It also provides for consideration of 106 amendments for Division A (LHHE) and Division D (State). Amendments for the remaining divisions will be considered by the Committee this evening.

Consideration of the bill will probably start tomorrow.