Bills Introduced – 11-9-23

Yesterday, with the House and Senate in session (and preparing to observe Veterans Day today), there were 85 bills introduced. Two of those bills will receive additional attention in this blog:

HJ Res 100 Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Securities and Exchange Commission relating to "Cybersecurity Risk Management, Strategy, Governance, and Incident Disclosure". Garbarino, Andrew R. [Rep.-R-NY-2]

SJ Res 50 A joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Securities and Exchange Commission relating to "Cybersecurity Risk Management, Strategy, Governance, and Incident Disclosure. Tillis, Thomas [Sen.-R-NC]

Senate Passes HJ Res 100 – Railroad Agreement

Yesterday the Senate, after rejecting two associated measures, passed HJ Res 100, To provide for a resolution with respect to the unresolved disputes between certain railroads represented by the National Carriers' Conference Committee of the National Railway Labor Conference and certain of their employees, by a bipartisan vote of 80 to 15. The measure now goes to President Biden for signature, which will likely take place today.

The first associated vote was on an amendment to HJ Res 100 (SA 6503) offered by Sen Sullivan (R,AK). The substitute language offered in the amendment would have required the railroads and unions to resume contract negotiations for an additional 60-days to achieve a new tentative agreement. That amendment failed on a vote of 25 to 70.

H Con Res 119, the resolution passed in the House that would amend the enrolled version of HJ Res 100 to require language to be added to the tentative agreement enforced by the resolution to provide for 7-days sick leave in the contracts. That resolution failed on a vote of 52 to 43 (60 vote threshold).

House Passes Rail Strike Legislation

Yesterday the House passed both HJ Res 100 and H Con Res 119, the two resolutions that would stop the railroad unions starting a strike on December 6^th. HJ Res 100 passed by a recorded vote of 290 to 137. H Con Res 119 passed by a recorded vote of 221 to 207.

Resolution Provisions

HJ Res 100 would impose upon the railroads and their unions the tentative agreement reached between the parties that was based upon the recommendations of Presidential Emergency Board No. 250 issued on August 16, 2022, whether or not the unions ratified that agreement.

H Con Res 119 would amend the enrolled version (the version to be sent to the President for signature) of HJ Res 100, inserting a new §1(b), Paid Sick Leave. The new subsection would modify the ‘tentative agreement’ by adding language providing for 7 days of paid sick leave and a requirement that the use of such sick leave “will not result in any points, demerits, or disciplinary citations under any party's attendance policy.”

H Con Res 119 would also insert a new §2, Negotiations and Arbitration. This new section would require the parties to the ’tentative agreement’ to “negotiate the implementation of the 7 days of paid sick leave imposed on such parties by section 1(b).” If the negotiations are not successful within 30 days of passage of HJ Res 100, the parties would be required to “enter into binding arbitration on such matter to provide for a final resolution of such unresolved matter.”

Moving Forward

The two resolutions now move to the Senate for consideration. The Senate will certainly take up HJ Res 100. The bipartisan vote in the House almost certainly means that the Senate will have enough votes for a successful cloture vote on the resolution. There will be enough votes for passage, even though many of those yeah votes will cause some internal political consternation, but no one wants a railroad work stoppage.

The consideration of H Con Res 119 is not as certain. There will be significant Republican opposition to the second resolution. It is not clear at this juncture if there will be ten Republicans that would vote for H Con Res 119

Bills Introduced – 11-29-22

Yesterday, with both the lame duck House and Senate in session, there were 27 bills introduced. Three of those bills may receive future coverage in this blog:

HR 9361 To establish criminal penalties for failing to inform and warn of serious dangers. Scanlon, Mary Gay [Rep.-D-PA-5].

HJ Res 100 To provide for a resolution with respect to the unresolved disputes between certain railroads represented by the National Carriers' Conference Committee of the National Railway Labor Conference and certain of their employees. Payne, Donald M., Jr. [Rep.-D-NJ-10]

H Con Res 119 Providing for a correction in the enrollment of H.J. Res. 100. DeFazio, Peter A. [Rep.-D-OR-4]

Okay, I am not sure what “serious dangers” will trigger my coverage of HR 9361, but I will be watching the language for this bill.

I have been covering HJ Res 100 and H Con Res 119.

House to Consider Two Rail Strike Resolutions

The House is scheduled to take up two resolutions today concerning the potentially impending railroad strike; HJ Res 100 and H Con Res 119. The first would make binding the agreements reached by railroad managements and labor union leaders earlier this year, whether or not the union membership approved those deals. The second would amend the first, effectively adding 7-days paid sick leave to those agreements. A vote on that amendment is believed to be necessary to placate a large number of Democrats that are loath to force union membership to accept labor deals. 

If passed, the Senate would be expected to take up HJ Res 100 next week.

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.