Congressional Hearings – Week of 12-15-13

The House has gone home for Christmas (and New Years) but the Senate is still in Washington, trying to tie up some loose ends. There is an interesting cybersecurity hearing scheduled for Wednesday.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will be holding a markup hearing that will look at a new cybersecurity bill; Cybersecurity Recruitment and Retention Act. This bill has not been introduced yet and there is not yet a copy on the Committee web site. From the title it sounds like another cyber jobs bill.

The Senate will take up a couple of important bills on the floor this week; the National Defense Authorization Bill (HR 3304) and the FY 2014 Budget Resolution (HJ Res 59). The GPO still does not have a copy of the version of HR 3304 passed by the House (though it is available in a hard to read version on the Thomas.LOC.gov site). HJ Res 59 isn’t even available on the Thomas site. Both bills really need to pass this week without any amendments if we are going to have a reasonably smooth start to 2014.

HJ Res 59 Reborn as FY 2014 Budget Resolution

The House Rules Committee is currently meeting to formulate yet another rule for the floor consideration of HJ Res 59. The former attempt at a continuing resolution was re-born late last night as the vessel for the FY 2014 budget resolution. Passage of this bill tomorrow in the House and Senate will presage a new year resolution of the spending stand-off that closed the government earlier this year.

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.

House Insists on Its Amendment

The House Rules adopted H Res 368 to finish out the consideration of HJ Res 59 for today. The resolution states that the House insists on its latest amendment to the CR and requests a conference with the Senate to resolve the differences between the two latest versions of the bill.

The House is currently debating that resolution for an hour (ending no later than about 12:37 am EDT) at which time it will vote upon and almost certainly pass the resolution. That will effectively put an end to any efforts to prevent a federal government shut down this year.

It remains to be seen how long it would the conference committee to come to some acceptable common ground between the two factions and then send a revised HJ Res 59 back to both houses for a vote.

House Rules Committee Addresses HJ Res 59 a Third Time

Earlier this evening the House Rules Committee approved H Res 367, the latest effort of the Republican leadership to craft an a version of HJ Res 59 that would be acceptable to the Republican’s conservative base and might pass muster this evening in the Senate.

House Rule

The latest move would vacate Saturday’s House amendments to the Senate amendment to HJ Res 59 and then put into place new language at the end of the Senate version that would:

• Changes end date to December 15^th, 2013 {§138};

• Delays individual mandate requirements of Obamacare one year {§141}; and

• Removes the government contribution to the health insurance for Congress, its staff, the President and his staff and the political appointees in the executive branch {§142}.

It appears relatively obvious that the leadership accepts at face value Sen. Reids’ assertion that no modification of Obamacare will pass the Senate. Section 2 of H Res 367 provides that the currently approved waiver of House Rules with respect to the restrictions on the same day action on a House Rules Committee rule is extended to October 7^th, 2013.

Floor Action

The House took up H Res 367 this evening and passed it on a nearly party-line vote (6 Republicans voted no) of 225 to 204. A short time later on a slightly more mixed vote (12 Republicans voted no and 9 Democrats voted yes) the House passed the newly revised language of HJ Res 59 on a 228 to 221 vote. The Senate subsequently voted to table consideration of the Republican amendment the expected party-line vote of 54-46, effectively dropping the matter back into the House.

It is remotely possible that the House might take the matter up again tonight; they recessed after the earlier vote instead of adjourning. In fact, the House Rules Committee just announced that it was holding another meeting tonight at 10:30 EDT.

Senate Rejects House Amendments to HJ Res 59

As expected, this afternoon the Senate rejected the House Amendments to HJ Res 59 by a straight partly-line vote of 54-46. The House Rules Committee has already announced that they will meet this afternoon at 4:15 to determine how the House will respond to the Senate vote. The full House will be able to take up the CR as soon as the Rules Committee publishes their rule.

If the House concurs with the Senate’s amendment then there will be no shut down of the government at midnight. If the final vote doesn’t take place until 1:00 am (or 4:00 am for that matter) it will not make any difference as that will still be today by congressional conventions as long as there is no adjournment.

House Passes Both Amendments to HJ Res 59 and HR 3210

Late Saturday night the House passed both amendments to HJ Res 59, dumping the ball back in the Senate’s court. Amendment #1 which did not include the Obamacare language passed by a slightly bipartisan vote of 248 to 174 with 17 Democrats voting with all of the Republicans on the amendment. Amendment #2, which was identical to the first amendment with an additional section postponing the Obamacare implementation one year, lost two Republican and 15 Democrat votes to pass by a vote of 231 to 192.

It is still not clear how the slightly contradictory versions of language for HJ Res 59 would actually operate. Both bills specifically replaced the Senate language in the bill. The second amendment did not modify the bill as revised by the first amendment. I suspect, however, that is what the parliamentarians will decide happened in effect, so it will look as if the first amendment never actually took place.

The interesting part of the vote is that the 17 Democrats that joined the Republican majority on Amendment #1 could be enough votes to offset a conservative vote against a Senate bill that removed just the Obamacare delay. . It depends on just how many Republicans that would put their political principals above shutting down the government.

HR 3210, the military pay bill that I described late last night, passed by a unanimous vote. It should also be able to pass in the Senate on Monday, so at least the military folks would have some guarantee that there pay would continue even if the House and Senate can’t get together on a funding bill by Monday midnight.

House Rules Committee Rule for 2nd Consideration of HJ Res 59

The House Rules Committee approved H Res 366 a rule for the consideration of HJ Res 59 as amended by the Senate. This resolution provides for the House to choose between two versions of substitute language for HJ Res 59 and the consideration of HR 3210, the Pay Our Military Act; a bill designed to ensure that military members and critical DOD civilians and contractors would continue to get paid if the government is shut down by the failure to approve a FY 2014 spending bill.

The Solomon Decision

Both of the proposed substitute languages {the Paulsen (R,MN) and the Blackburn (R,TN) amendments} proposed by the rule would, according to the Rules Committee web site:

• Repeal the Medical Device Excise Tax;

• Amend the expiration date of the CR to be December 15, 2013;

• Make a technical change to the Eisenhower Memorial Commission provision; and

• Add a new provision to extend the authority for the U.S. to issue Special Immigrant Visas.

The Blackburn Amendment would have the added effect of postponing the implementation of Obamacare for one year.

It looks like the leadership believes that Paulsen amendment may be an acceptable (to the Democrats) alternative to shutting down the government. Allowing it to be considered first would allow some Democrats to vote for the adoption of the language. It certainly won’t be acceptable to the conservative faction of the House that is trying hardest to kill Obamacare. If enough Democrats vote for the Paulsen amendment to overcome the objections of the conservative faction of the Republican Party then this could pass.

What I am not clear on is whether or not the passage of the Paulsen Amendment would stop the consideration of the Blackburn Amendment. If it does, then the bill would go to the Senate and Sen. Reid and company would have to decide if they want to shut down the federal government. They would probably blink and pass the bill since their most vehement objection would have been removed.

If the Blackburn Amendment comes to a vote it would probably pass. If the Paulsen Amendment were not in the picture, it would certainly pass on a straight party-line vote. The question would be how many moderate Republicans would vote against it after supporting the Paulsen Amendment.

If the Paulsen Amendment is passed and sent to the Senate the Speaker is going to face some loud calls for his resignation from the right. The conservatives will have been defeated in one of their most dearly held fights by the action of the Republican leadership. The remainder of this term would be a very tense and trying time for the Republican caucus.

If the Paulsen Amendment fails, the Speaker will clearly and publicly place the blame on the Democrats if the Senate does not concur (and it won’t) with the Blackburn version of HJ Res 59. Whether that blame will stick won’t be clear until a year from now when the next congressional elections role around.

HR 3210

This bill, introduced by… hmm there is no introducer’s name that I can find on the House Rules Committee web site, oh well. This bill would insure that military pay would continue if a continuing resolution doesn’t pass before October 1^st or if any time this year the government is left without funding. It specifically requires meeting the payroll for active duty military (and Guard and Reserve personnel on active duty) and Coast Guard on military duty. It would also require meeting the payroll for selected DOD (and DHS for Coast Guard) civilian and contractor personnel who are directly supporting military operations. The Secretaries would determine who would be ‘selected’ and report that back to Congress.

This is a motherhood and apple pie bill and should pass with some bipartisan support, though the support from Democrats will be grudging.

H Res 366 Passed in House

As I finish writing this blog post I notice that the House has completed their one-hour debate on H Res 366 and just passed the bill. The vote tally was not yet available on House Clerk’s web site but I suspect that it was a fairly straight party-line vote. The final result for HJ Res 59 will probably be done by midnight.

Senate Passes Short-Clean Version of CR

Early this afternoon the Senate moved forward to amend and then pass HJ Res 59, Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2014. The cloture vote to end debate on the un-amended bill came first and it was not close, 79 to 19. Next came the vote on the Reid Amendment (SA 1974) which, as expected, was a straight party-line vote, 54 to 44 (two Republicans not voting). The final vote on the bill had the same result.

The bill now goes to the House for action. Nothing will be done today as the House has already adjourned and is scheduled to meet tomorrow at 10:00. They did not take up H Res 361 so that will probably be the first order of business. Then I expect HR 2642 to come up. Neither is currently listed on the Majority Leader’s web site.

There may be a House Rules Committee hearing today (not too likely) or early tomorrow on HJ Res 59, but only if the Republican leadership has figured out what they can accomplish.

Remember there is always the possibility of a new short-short term CR to keep things going while the internal Republican debate continues.

Reid Introduces Clean CR Amendment to HJ Res 59

As expected yesterday (which was administratively changed to 9-24-13 in the Congressional Record for the Senate) Sen. Reid (D,NV) introduced an amendment (SA 1974) in the form of a substitute for HJ Res 59, Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2014. The new language would extend FY 2013 funding levels until November 15^th, 2013. This would also extend the CFATS authorization to that date.

The cloture vote for stopping debate on HJ Res 59 is currently scheduled for Friday morning. Vote on the Reid amendment (and others) will take place after that vote.

Senate Unanimously Votes to Close Debate on HJ Res 59

Today the Senate voted on the cloture motion to close debate on the motion to proceed to the consideration of HJ Res 59, the Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2014. In a surprise vote on one of the most controversial bills of the session, the Senate vote unanimously in favor of the cloture motion.

There will be more debate on the bill and a number of amendments, but it seems clear that the Senate will pass a version of the bill that will not contain the Obamacare defunding or credit limit restrictions that were placed in the bill to appease the more radical elements of the Republican Party base. This will give the Republicans the up or down vote on Obamacare that many commentators have opined that was the real reason for including the provisions in this bill in the first place.

The bill will go back to the House late this week or this weekend. It is not yet clear whether the Republican leadership will be able to put together enough votes (a Republican-Democrat moderate coalition) to approve what will probably be something close to the original version of HJ Res 59, probably with a shorter time limit. I suspect that the that leadership will not know for sure until the actual vote is taken if they have enough votes to keep the government operational on October 1^st. The less sure they are of the vote outcome, the later the vote will probably take place.

House Passes HJ Res 59

As expected this morning the House passed HJ Res 59, the Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2014. The vote was a mainly along party lines (1 Republican voted No and 2 Democrats voted Aye). The bill now goes to the Senate where there has been a great deal of discussion about how Sen. Reid may go about bringing the bill to the floor and strip out the sections defunding Obamacare without facing a cloture vote.

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.

Rules Committee Hearing on CR

The House Rules Committee announced this afternoon that is was making an emergency addition to it previously scheduled hearing this afternoon to add a rule for the consideration of HJ Res 59, the Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2014. This CR was supposed to be considered last week, but was held up continuing discussions within the Republican caucus about how to deal with attempting to defund Obamacare.

As introduced this CR would extend current funding until December 15^th and would extend the CFATS authorization until that date, pending further budget action.

HJ Res 59 Introduced – FY 2014 CR

HJ Res 59, the Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2014, was introduced yesterday as I predicted in my earlier blog post (no real prognostication skills required). The official copy will not be available until later in the morning, but a Appropriations Committee Draft is available.

Generally speaking the CR will continue funding at the 2013 sequestered level with a few minor exceptions that don’t deal with chemical safety, security or cybersecurity. That funding is extended until December 15th, 2013{§106(3)}.  The CFATS program is extended until the same date {§122}.