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Category: Administration

House Approves Opioid Conference Report

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In a remarkable change of pace, the House and Senate came to a conference agreement on S.524, Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act this Wednesday. The agreement contains numerous provisions to combat increasing rates of opioid drug abuse, including through modifications to prescribing and pain management practices, by creating or modifying programs to expand access to treatment, particularly access to opioid overdose reversal drugs or medication-assisted treatment that eases withdrawal symptoms, and by establishing or strengthening specific programs for vulnerable groups such as drug-addicted infants. It also requires the Veterans Affairs Department (VA) to take several actions to better manage and track the use of opioids by veterans.

In both chambers and in the conference committee process, Democrats sought to add hundreds of millions of dollars in appropriations to ensure that individuals suffering from opioid addiction would have access to treatment; however, those efforts were blocked. Because of the lack of funding, the Administration has expressed opposition to the agreement — but has not issued a formal veto threat.

Today, the House almost unanimously approved legislation, by a vote of 407-5, to combat opioid overdoses after Democrats dropped their opposition to the bill at the last minute. The vote all but assures that the bill will sail through the Senate and head to President Obama’s desk next week. The legislation, a top priority for GOP leaders, is expected to be one of Congress’s biggest achievements this year.

They’re Back for Guns, Defense, and Maybe Some Money

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Both the House and Senate are back this week to resume work after the 4 of July work period. The upper and lower chambers have less that two full weeks for business (the House has nine legislative days to the Senate’s seven) before both recess for seven weeks (which will contain two massive nominating conventions and the traditional August Recess) returning after Labor Day.

The House is back today, Tuesday, to consider an anti-terrorism package that includes a measure aimed at barring suspected terrorists from buying guns. Speaker Ryan announced that the House will consider the measure last week, much to the chagrin of his caucus as well as the derision of House Democrats. Regardless, the House Republican’s number one priority — restoring order to appropriations process — has failed miserably.

Only one measure, the FY 2017 Mil-Con bill, has a chance of being passed through both chambers. Yet, due to maneuvers to connect supplemental Zika funding, the normally uncontroversial measure is under extreme pressure and unlikely to pass precisely due to the attachment of the Zika funding which has garnered veto threats. The White House is insisting on $1.9 billion, and threatening to veto any measure which fails to provide that amount —  neither the House nor Senate has provided the Administration with its full request . However, none of the other 11 annual spending bills have passed both the House and Senate in various versions so as to get to a conference committee.

Given these challenges, lawmakers are starting to consider the mode and means for a Continuing Resolution (CR) to avoid a government shutdown this Fall. Of course a CR, a fairly common funding measure in September, is not without challenges. There is controversy between lawmakers as to when to end the CR — after the election, until the Spring for the next president, or for the whole FY 2017 year.

The Senate returns Wednesday to consider a host of different issues including legislation to end sanctuary cities and increase minimum sentences for those who reenter the country after being removed. From there the Senate is expected to consider a bill to establish federal standards for genetically modified food labeling. Finally, a cloture vote on the Fy 2017 Defense appropriations bill has been queued up. While this bill has already endured a host of potential problems, its finally passage will be made more complicated by the Pentagon’s announcement Thursday to allow transgendered service members to openly serve.

 

Zika Blocked In Senate

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The Senate blocked a plan Tuesday to spend $1.1. billion to fight the Zika virus, as Democrats objected to added provisions that would limit funding for birth control, allow pesticide spraying near water sources, and raise the Confederate flag. Democrats asserted there were not included in the conference negotiation process to craft the conference report.

The Senate failed invoke cloture on the conference report for an appropriations package containing $1.1 billion to combat the Zika virus and $82.5 billion in FY 2017 Military Construction-VA discretionary spending.

Sixty votes were needed to cut off debate and move toward a final vote on the House-passed conference report, which faced a presidential veto if it passed. It’s unclear if House and Senate negotiators will resume work to write a new measure that is acceptable to both chambers and the White House, following bitter exchanges between Democrats and Republicans during the past few days.

White House Issues Veto Threat of Senate’s NDAA

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In a Statement of Administration Policy issued by the Office of Management and Budget, the White House issued a veto threat on the Senate NDAA and contends the legislation would “hinder” the administration from executing defense and foreign policy.

“Specifically, the bill attempts to micromanage DoD by impeding the department’s ability to respond to changing circumstances, directing overly prescriptive organizational changes, preventing the closure of Guantanamo and limiting U.S. engagement with Cuba, and includes provisions that set an arbitrary limit on the size of the president’s National Security Council staff,” the White House said.

The veto threat comes during the second full day of Senate floor debate on the annual policy bill.

Last month, the White House similarly threatened a veto of the House version of the bill.

House and Senate Agree to Conference Zika Funding Bills

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Today, the House voted 233-180 Thursday for a rule that would allow the chamber go to conference with the Senate over differences in the two chambers’ respective versions of their FY2017 Mil-Con appropriations measures as well as legislation to address the Zika virus. The Senate will also need to agree to go to conference.

The House and Senate has vastly different approaches to Zika funding. The House funding was a separate measure, which only provided $622 million and passed on a largely party-line vote of 241-184 while garnering a veto threat from President Obama because it provides less than a third of his $1.9 billion request. The Senate included $1.1 billion, again less than the $1.9 billion requested, and was attached to the Senate’s FY2017 Mil-Con and T-HUD combined measure. 

Once convened the House and Senate have a limited amount of time to resolve their differences.