Senate Passes HR 4076

Yesterday the Senate passed HR 4076, the HHEATT Act. As I predicted the bill passed by unanimous consent without debate.

Passage of this bill will effectively kill any possible consideration of S 2085 and S 2086. Sen. Reid made the decision yesterday to go with HR 4076 so the other two are dead. It would take a major political upheaval in the Senate to overcome the political inertia of legislative stare decisis.

Bills Introduced – 03-05-14

There were 30 bills introduced in the House and Senate yesterday, but only two look like they may be of specific interest to readers of this blog:

S 2085 Latest Title: A bill to address shortages and interruptions in the availability of propane and other home heating fuels in the United States, and for other purposes. Sponsor: Sen Klobuchar, Amy (D,MN)

S RES 373 Latest Title: A resolution recognizing the importance of biosecurity and agro-defense in the United States. Sponsor: Sen Roberts, Pat (R,KS) 

I suspect that S 2085 will address the same propane transportation issue as HR 4076. Normally I would expect that it might be a companion bill, but since HR 4076 had already been passed in the House by the time this bill was introduced, it is less likely. We will just have to wait to see the printed version of the bill.

S Res 373 was introduced and passed yesterday but a copy is not yet publicly available. This is an odd topic for a resolution, but we will just have to wait for the GPO to understand it.