The House Rules Committee cancelled their hearing to craft a rule for HR 1806, the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act. It is unknown at this time when the House Rules Committee will take up the measure or if this will delay the consideration of the measure last week.
Author: Sarah Castro
Reviewed 9/22
House Appropriations Posts FY16 CJS
The House Appropriations Committee released the text of the FY16 Commerce Justice State legislation this morning in immediate advance of their mark up. The Appropriations Committee released both the text of the legislation and a press release of highlights on the measure.
At first glance, there do seem to be clear winners and losers in the bill.
WINNER: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) – NASA is funded at $18.5 billion in the bill, $519 million above the 2015 enacted level. This funding includes:
- $4.8 billion for Exploration – $403 million above the fiscal year 2015 enacted level. This includes funding to continue the development of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle and Space Launch System flight program, and to continue progress in the commercial crew program.
- $5.2 billion for NASA Science programs – $7 million below the 2015 enacted level. This includes funding above the President’s request for planetary science to ensure the continuation of critical research and development programs.
LOSER: Department of Commerce – The bill includes $8.2 billion for Commerce , which is $251 million below the FY15 enacted level and $1.6 billion below the President’s request. Within Commerce, there was funding levels of the following :
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) – The legislation contains $5.2 billion for NOAA, which is $274 million below the enacted level. Within this total, the National Weather Service is funded at $968 million – $4 million above the President’s request. The bill also includes full funding for the continuation of the current Joint Polar Satellite System weather satellite program and the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite program to help maintain and improve weather forecasting to warn communities about potentially devastating natural disasters.
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) – NIST is funded at $855 million in the bill, which is $9 million below the fiscal year 2015 enacted level. Within this total, important core research activities are funded at $675 million to help advance U.S. competitiveness, innovation, and economic growth, and to improve cyber security.
National Science Foundation (NSF) – The legislation funds NSF at $7.4 billion, an increase of $50 million above the fiscal year 2015 enacted level. This funding is targeted to programs that foster innovation and U.S. economic competitiveness, including funding for research on advanced manufacturing, cybersecurity, neuroscience and STEM education.
The House CJS Subcommittee is expected to mark up the legislation this morning.
While specific details within the agencies are still unclear, the Office of Federal Relations will continue to monitor the measure and provide a more complete analysis when information is available.
Mêlée for NDAA
Both the White House and chief Democrat of the the House Armed Services Committee, Adam Smith (D-WA) have both expressed a lack of support for the FY16 NDAA measure, which is expected to be considered today on the House Floor. The White House issued an Statement of Administrative Policy in which it issued a veto threat. In part the administration objects to the accounting devices used by the Armed Services committee, as advocated in the House and Senate budgets, to avoid the Sequester budget caps.
The Administration strongly objects to the bill’s authorization of sequester level appropriations for items that were requested in and belong in the base budget, and use of OCO [Over Seas Contingency Fund]– a funding mechanism intended to pay for wars and not subject to the budget caps – to pay for $38 billion in base requirements. Sequestration adds risk to our national security by threatening the size, readiness, presence, and capability of our military, and threatens the economic security on which our national security depends. The Committee clearly recognizes that the President’s Budget level for defense is needed, but authorizes it in a way that fails to acknowledge the need to reverse sequestration for both defense and non-defense spending.
Similarly, Congressman Smith has issued a statement against the measure, which he helped write and voted for in committee. Specifically, Smith said he objected to use of the supplemental OCO war fund to shield the Pentagon from strict spending caps while leaving other federal agencies subject to the caps.
House Democratic leaders are whipping Members to vote against HR 1735, the NDAA. In addition, the White House is threatening to veto the measure in large part because of the use of OCO funds to allow the Pentagon to evade the spending caps put in place under the Budget Control Act of 2011.
The move is seen as one to pressure Republican House and Senate leadership into repealing the Sequester in its entirety.
Nearly 350 Amendments were offered to the NDAA, and the House Rules Committee will meet today at 3 pm to determine which amendments will be considered on the House Floor.
To follow the bill on the House Floor and the progress of the various amendments, the House Armed Services Committee has created this handy tracker.
NDAA PATRIOT Act Combo with an Abortion Chaser
Today, the House will vote on the rule to consider the NDAA. In a development, the Rules committee decided to combine the NDAA with two other pieces of legislation, namely HR 2048, the USA FREEDOM Act of 2015 and HR 36, the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.
HR 2048, the USA FREEDOM Act is a bipartisan measure that extends certain provisions of the Patriot Act that are scheduled to expire at the beginning of June. Additionally, the measure modifies domestic surveillance authorities by prohibiting the National Security Agency’s (NSA) bulk collection and storage of telephone metadata and ability to collect other bulk data, requiring the NSA to obtain approval from the FISA court to examine the calling records of individual target telephone numbers on a case-by-case basis (before requesting the information from a phone company) and limiting the associated calling records of a telephone number that may be examined to two “hops” from the suspect’s number. No amendments will be considered on the measure including an amendment once again offered to change the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and require a warrant to access stored emails, along with a handful of other anti-surveillance amendments from privacy minded lawmakers trying to beef up protections in the legislation.
While, HR 2048 is bipartisan, HR 36, the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act is not. The bill bans abortions in cases where the probable age of the fetus is 20 weeks or later and imposes criminal penalties on doctors who violate the ban. It provides exceptions in cases where the life of the woman is in danger, or in cases of rape or incest.
Originally, the measure was slated for House consideration in January but was pulled because of Conservative Republican women legislator’s objections over language requiring rape victims to report the crime to qualify for the exception. GOP leaders this week are putting forward a significantly modified version which drops the rape reporting requirement, and instead requires women to receive counseling or medical treatment for the rape at least 48 hours prior to the abortion procedure and to sign (along with the doctor and a witness) an informed consent form, and requires that a second doctor trained in neonatal resuscitation be present for abortions where the fetus has the “potential” to survive outside the womb, and if born alive requires that the infant be admitted to a hospital. The bill does still include similar reporting requirements for abortions for pregnancies resulting from incest.
A one technical amendment will be considered.
Democrats are expected to rally against the bill. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has promised his chamber will vote on the measure as well.
A vote on the rule to consider the NDAA will be a vote to consider HR 2048 and HR 36 as well.
While the White House has made clear its support of the surveillance bill, it has issued a veto threat for the abortion bill.
House Gets Ready to Consider COMPETES and NDAA
The House Rules Committee will meet at 3pm on Wednesday to considered movement forward for both HR 1735, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2016 and HR 1806, the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2015.
Today, the House Rules Committee will meet to consider the overall rule for the NDAA, and subsequent to that will determine which amendments will be considered on the House Floor. Over 300 amendments have been filed, and the full list is here.
When the House Rules Committee meets on Wednesday the will also consider the rule for COMPETES and what amendments will be considered on the House Floor. Over 40 amendments have been filed, and the full list of all the amendments is here.
The House is expected to consider the NDAA this week and COMPETES next week.