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Author: Sarah Castro

Reviewed 9/22

House Begins Work on National Defense Authorization Bill

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The House will begin its work on the HR 1960, the National Defense Authorization Bill (NDAA) today. Consideration of the measure is expected to go through tomorrow. The NDAA is the yearly authorization bill that determines military priorities for agencies responsible for our national defense. The legislation establishes funding levels, and sets the policies under which money will be spent.

The bill authorizes $638.4 billion for the Pentagon and defense-related programs for FY 2014, including $85.8 billion for the war in Afghanistan and other overseas contingency activities. The bill’s authorization for regular defense funding is roughly equal to the president’s request but about $50 billion more than the projected post-sequestration cap for defense pursuant to the 2011 Budget Control Act. It authorizes $8 billion for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and requires the development of a new missile-defense site on the East Coast that the Pentagon does not want. It also bars the use of funds for planning any future rounds of military base closings, authorizes funds for new construction at the Guantánamo Bay detention center that the president wants to close and establishes new procedures to combat sexual assault in the military.

On June 11th, the White House issued a veto threat of the measure as it was currently written. The House Armed Services Committee passed the legislation on June 5th.

The House Rules Committee has approved a structured rule on Wednesday, which limits the amount of amendments that can be considered during the Floor debate. There will be 172 amendments (70 Republican, 68 Democratic, and 38 bipartisan) considered for 10 minutes each. Nearly 300 amendments were submitted to the House Rules committee to be offered during the Floor debate. The rule makes in order a number of amendments which address controversial proposals, ranging from the Guantánamo Bay detention center to overall spending levels that dramatically exceed the caps set by sequestration.

The House will begin consideration at noon today. Rep. Adam Smith (WA) is the Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee and will manage the bill for the Democrats.

The Office of Federal Relations will continue to monitor the progress of the bill.

 

CBO on Student Loan Interest Rate Change and Proposals

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Today, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a report on the impacts and costs of the student loan interest rate going from 3.4 to 6.8 percent. The CBO analyzes the impact to Direct (subsidized and unsubsidized) and PLUS loans.  The report also broadly touches on the impacts to students and the nation if student loans have an adjustable interest rate.

A copy of the CBO report can be found here.

The CBO is a nonpartisan agency created to produce independent analyses of budgetary and economic issues to support the Congressional budget process.

The Office of Federal Relations is continuing to monitor this issue and will provide updates as available.

Senate Passes Bipartisan Farm Bill

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This evening, the Senate passed S. 954, the Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act of 2013, by a vote of 66 to 27. Eighteen Republican Senators voted for the measure. Last Thursday, the Senate voted 75  to 22 to invoke cloture (limit further debate) on the bill and members of the Senate unanimously agreed that the only amendment remaining in order to the bill would be an amendment regarding rural broadband internet access. Although there were 260 amendments filed to the bill, only a few dozen were actually considered. Thursday’s agreement also precluded Democrats and Republicans from crafting a package of amendments that could be made to the bill prior to final passage.

Title VII of bill, as passed by the Senate this evening, includes most of the reauthorizations and programmatic “tweaks” higher education sought with respect to research, extension, and higher education programs administered by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). It also includes mandatory funding (not subject to annual appropriations) for five NIFA-administered programs and establishes a new Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research with $200 million in mandatory funds for this new 501(c)(3) organization.

For additional information about the Senate bill, see: www.land-grant.org/reports/2013/CLP/05-16.htm

The House is expected to consider H.R. 1947, the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2013, later this month. Both House Major Leader Eric Cantor and Speaker John Boehner have expressed their willingness to bring the Farm Bill to the floor under a rule that will permit spirited debate. The Speaker issued a news release today, encouraging House members to move the bill ahead saying: “If you have ideas on how to make the bill better, bring them forward. Let’s have the debate, and let’s vote on them.”

The House bill includes most of higher education’s many requests reauthorization requests for the NIFA. It House bill also provides mandatory funds for three programs administered by NIFA. Although major floor amendments to the Research and Extension Title (Title VII) of the bill are not expected at this time, the situation is extremely fluid. There are additional provisions involving NIFA-related proposals (as agreed upon by the BAA’s Committee on Legislation and Policy) that are being monitored for inclusion on the floor or later in the process depending on the situation.

UW’s College of the Environment receives NIFA funds and the Office of Federal Relations is tracking the progress of the Farm Bill closely.

Student Loan Bills Fail in Senate

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This morning, the Senate took up both S 953, the Reed-Harkin-Reid-Murray two year extension of 3.4% interest rate on student loans and the Senate Republican alternative, S 1003, sponsored by Senators Tom Colburn and Lamar Alexander.  The Senate Republican bill would have tied student loan interest rates to the 10-year Treasury note rate plus 3 percentage-points.

The Chamber was technically voting to invoke cloture on motions to proceed to consideration on the measure. Both bills needed 60 votes in order to proceed to debate.  As expected, both bills of the competing measures failed to reach the 60-vote mark.

S 953 (Reed-Harkin-Reid) received a vote of 51-46.

S 1003 (Coburn-Alexander) received a vote of 40-57.

 

Senate Moves to Add Student Loans Fix to Farm Bill

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The Senate continues to consider the Farm Bill this week. More than 200 amendments are pending consideration to the Farm Bill, including S953, known as the Reed, Harkin, Reid, Murray bill which would would increase taxes on multinational corporations to pay for a two-year extension for student loans at 3.4 percent. Senate Democratic leadership added the measure as an amendment last Friday.

Although it is not guaranteed to be considered as an amendment to the Farm Bill this week, the Senate will likely hold side-by-side votes on Reed’s plan and a House-passed Republican measure (HR1911) that the House passed last week which would peg the interest rates to the 10-year Treasury note. Each vote would require a 60-vote threshold for passage. It is expected that both measures would likely fail, thus increasing the pressure on the sides to develop a compromise.

Last Friday, Obama has blasted the House-passed bill, saying the legislation could saddle students with more debt than if rates are allowed to double to 6.8 percent on July 1, as scheduled.

The Office of Federal Relations will continue tracking this issue as it continues to develop.