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Vote-a-rama

It’s budget week on the Senate side (as well as confirmation week). The Senate is expected to start their all nighter on Wednesday. The Senate Democrats have vowed to take up all the debate time allotted (and more).

The bare-bones budget resolution, S.Con.Res. 3, released last week includes instructions to relevant committees to draft legislation aimed at repealing the health care law through reconciliation, a process that sidesteps the threat of Democratic obstruction or filibuster in the Senate. Getting the budget measure passed requires allowing Democratic Senators an almost endless opportunity to offer amendments aimed at expressing their opposition to repeal.

What the Senate will tackle this week is unique, since most measures can be filibustered. The 1974 Congressional Budget Act inoculates the consideration of any budget resolution from a filibuster and limits debate to 50 hours total. Once the time is up, everything must be voted upon.

What makes a budget resolution different is the clock. Once cloture is invoked on a customary bill, all motions, amendments, and passage must conclude by the end of debate time, which is 30 hours. Already, a budget bill receives 20 additional hours of debate.  Furthering the curiousness of the Senate budget process, however, is that any amendment that is offered must be disposed of before adoption of the resolution.

That means, regardless of the fact that the allotted debate time may expire Wednesday, any Senator may call up additional amendments and get a roll call vote even after debate time has expired. This is when things get fun. Senators may (and do) continue to seek votes on amendments after time has expired making the session can drag on and on. (No joke, there are cots for Senators to sleep on for the all nigher.) While Senators do not receive any additional debate time, past precedent has allowed a minute or two for Senators to explain their amendments before the vote. This barrage of a series of votes is what is known as “vote-a-rama”. 

Once a vote-a-rama stretches late into the next day, the minority party will often relent and allow a final vote once they have had enough opportunities to get Senators on record usually defeating amendments containing popular priorities, used primarily for messaging purposes.

The House is expected to fast track the legislation after the measure passes the Senate.

The measure also comes as a growing number of Republicans say that any repeal legislation should await a replacement plan, which might be difficult given the Budget resolution asks the various committees to produce a plan by January 27th. 

Meanwhile, the Senate has a busy week with a number of confirmation hearings both this week and in the coming weeks.

Domestic Policy Council, Staff Announcements

Trump has announced his Domestic Policy Team.

Andrew Bremberg, Director of the White House Domestic Policy CouncilAndrew Bremberg worked at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from 2001 to 2009, including serving as the Chief of Staff for the Office of Public Health and Science. He later served as Policy Advisor and Counsel on Nominations for Senator Mitch McConnell. He worked as the Policy Director for the 2016 Republican Party Platform. He now works in a lead policy and administrative role on the Presidential Transition Team. Mr. Bremberg received a J.D. from the Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law and a B.A. from the Franciscan University of Steubenville.

Paul Winfree, Deputy Director of the Domestic Policy Council and Director of Budget PolicyPaul Winfree was Director of the Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies, the Center for Data Analysis and the Richard F. Aster Research Fellow, all at The Heritage Foundation. Prior to joining Heritage, Mr. Winfree was the Director of Income Security on the U.S. Senate Committee on the Budget. He has a Master of Science degree in economics and economic history from the London School of Economics and a Bachelor of Science degree in economics from George Mason University.

Katy Talento, Healthcare PolicyKaty Talento, an infectious disease epidemiologist with nearly 20 years of experience in public health and health policy, as well as government oversight and investigations and program evaluation, served on the campaign since July 2016. Ms. Talento has spent 12 years in the U.S. Senate, working for five Senators and two committees. A graduate of Harvard School of Public Health and the University of Virginia, she has also worked in the field on disease control programs in the U.S. and in Africa.

Ja’Ron Smith, Urban Affairs and RevitalizationJa’Ron K. Smith has served as a Congressional staff member for nearly a decade. Smith served the House Republican Conference legislative staff under then-Chairman Mike Pence prior to joining the Republican Study Committee to serve on the professional policy staff under Congressman Jim Jordan. He later served as Economic Advisor to Senator Tim Scott and currently works as the Director of External Affairs for Generation Opportunity. Mr. Smith was born in Cleveland, Ohio and is a double graduate of Howard University with a BBA in Finance and a Masters in Divinity.

Rob Goad, Education PolicyRob Goad currently serves on the Presidential Transition as the education lead for the implementation of the President-elect’s education policy agenda. Prior to developing education policy for the President-elect’s successful campaign, Mr. Goad served as a Senior Policy Advisor to House Policy Committee Chair Luke Messer focusing on education issues. He also played a pivotal role advancing school choice policies as Director of the Congressional School Choice Caucus. Mr. Goad received a bachelor’s degree in political science at Indiana University.

John Zadrozny, Justice and Homeland Security PolicyJohn Zadrozny has worked for the past six years on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and the Senate Committee on the Judiciary for Senator Ted Cruz. Prior to working on Capitol Hill, he served in the Office of National Drug Control Policy and the Department of State. Mr. Zadrozny has a J.D. from Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law in Washington, D.C. and a B.A. in History from Fordham University in Bronx, where he graduated magna cum laude.

Zina Bash, Regulatory Reform, Legal and Immigration PolicyZina Bash has held a variety of positions in business, law and government, and currently serves as the Executive Vice President of Operations and Business Development at Doctors’ Hospital at Renaissance. Her previous positions include Deputy Director of Policy and Communications for Senator Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign and Senior Counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee in Senator John Cornyn’s office. Ms. Bash also practiced law as an appellate attorney at international law firm Gibson Dunn, & Crutcher LLP. Fluent in Spanish as a native speaker, she earned a bachelor’s degree from Harvard College, a J.D. from Harvard Law School and an M.B.A. from Wharton Business School. Ms. Bash also served as a law clerk to Justice Samuel Alito of the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge Brett Kavanaugh of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

Peter J. White, Senior Policy AnalystPeter White received his J.D. from American University’s Washington College of Law and has worked at the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission. Most recently, Mr. White served as Legislative Counsel for Congressman Mo Brooks. Licensed to practice law in the District of Columbia, Mr. White is an active member of the Federalist Society and performs pro bono legal work for the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless.

Additionally, the following team members are joining the Office of the Senior Advisor to the President for Policy, and will help to develop all policy and administer all functions underneath the umbrella of the Office, such as the formulation of a pro-worker agendaincluding support for affordable childcare and family initiatives.

Office of the Senior Advisor to the President for Policy, Staff Announcements:

Carlos Diaz-Rosillo, Director of Policy and Interagency CoordinationCarlos Diaz-Rosillo brings a wealth of experience on presidential power, administrative action, executive leadership and the policymaking and executive action process to this key role. Mr. Diaz-Rosillo has been serving on the President-elect’s Transition Team as Policy Implementation Executive Authority Advisor and White House Lead. He is fluent in Spanish, and graduated summa cum laude with degrees in International Relations (B.A.) and Civil Engineering (B.S.C.E) from Tufts University and Public Policy (M.P.P) and Government (A.M., PhD) from Harvard University, where he has been a member of the faculty of government for more than eight years.

Vince Haley, Advisor for Policy, Strategy and SpeechwritingVince Haley is a longtime associate of former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich. He served as policy director and later campaign manager of Gingrich’s 2012 presidential campaign. Mr. Haley holds an undergraduate degree from the College of William & Mary, a law and Master’s degree from the University of Virginia, and a Master’s of law from the College of Europe. During the President-elect’s successful campaign, Mr. Haley developed ethics reform policies.

Ross Worthington, Advisor for Policy, Strategy and SpeechwritingRoss Worthington was a longtime aide to former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich. He served as research director for Gingrich, deputy communications director for Gingrich’s 2012 presidential campaign and later as Gingrich’s primary writer. He is a graduate of Brown University, where he concentrated in Political Theory. During the campaign, Mr. Worthington, together with Mr. Vince Haley, worked to formulate and communicate policies that advanced the Trump agenda.

Ryan Jarmula, Advisor for Policy Development and SpeechwritingRyan Jarmula served as a member of Vice President-elect Mike Pence’s staff for a number of years. As a member of then-Congressman Pence’s Capitol Hill office, he handled a variety of issues including foreign affairs, and later served Pence in his capacity as Governor of the State of Indiana as Policy Director for Veterans Affairs and most recently as Speechwriter. During the campaign, Mr. Jarmula worked on Stephen Miller’s staff and had an active role in policy development. Mr. Jarmula is a graduate of Indiana University and completed his B.A. while majoring in political science in 2007.

Robert Gabriel, Special Assistant to the Senior AdvisorRobert Gabriel served as policy advisor on the President-elect’s campaign and assisted the National Policy Director in policy development, speechwriting functions, and staff management. He received a B.A. in Economics with a concentration in Policy from New York University.

Two Budgets Next Year

Congress will do two budget resolutions next year. The first will be aimed at the ACA early in the Congress and the second effort at reconciliation will be aimed at tax reform, which should be in the Spring.

The first budget that House and Senate Republicans will unveil early next year will include reconciliation instructions to fast track repeal of the 2010 health law, but is otherwise expected to be relatively bare-bones. the budget resolution is likely to abide by the $1.070 trillion discretionary spending cap that Republican conservatives opposed earlier this year. However, Republican leadership is touting the figure as a placeholder and not to be taken seriously — the real policy choices will be made in the FY2018 budget resolution to be drafted in the spring.

Both House and Senate GOP leaders have signaled that reconciliation, which can not be filibustered in the Senate, is the best path for tax reform. Speaker Paul Ryan is proceeding as if reconciliation would be necessary. This choice means that any tax reform plan would have to be deficit-neutral and would come with an expiration date.

Democrats have said they would be willing to talk about a narrower tax-and-infrastructure deal. But it also seems like it would be difficult for the more comprehensive tax reform approach that McConnell and Ryan talked up to get 60 votes in the Senate.

CR to be Unveiled Today

The House Leadership has announce that it will release the long-anticipated and negotiated continuing resolution (CR) today. The CR is not expected to have many anomalies and should be level funding from FY 2016 levels.  While there has been much negotiation between an end date in March 2017 or an end date in May 2017, the current thought is that the CR will continue federal funding until April 28, 2017. The current CR expires at midnight on Friday.

CR details will be posted as soon as they are available.

Long Weekend Negotiating for Unclear Week Ahead

Negotiations to craft a 10-week continuing resolution (CR) continued throughout the weekend as Congressional Leadership worked to nail down an agreement ahead of a Monday night procedural vote in the Senate. At 5:30 pm tonight, the Senate is scheduled to take a procedural vote, a cloture vote, intended to move forward with the package. It should be noted that Senate Leadership announced and planned on having a vote on this package last week, before it became clear a final bill was not yet reached.

While Republicans and Democrats are getting close to an agreement, sticking points remain with the package. Those issues include:

  • language within a Zika virus response package related to Planned Parenthood services in Puerto Rico,
  • offsets for the new $1.1 billion for anti-Zika spending, and what those offsets would be, if at all, from the $750 million in offsets from the Zika conference report;
  • provisions within the Zika legislation related to pesticide spraying should be exempt from the Clean Water Act;
  • including emergency flood relief for Louisiana and how much, which has been complicated by a Democratic push to pair flood money with aid for Flint, MI; and
  • and unrelated policy riders dealing with the Export-Import Bank, a federal transfer of certain internet oversight functions and more.

As a reminder, Congress has until September 30 to pass the continuing resolution and avert a partial government shutdown when FY 2016 funding expires. The FY 2017 measure is expected to adhere to FY 2016 spending levels and run through December 9, one week before Congress is scheduled to adjourn for the December holidays.

The Senate is expected to use the FY 2017 Legislative Branch appropriations bill (HR 5325), which previously passed the House, as a vehicle for the CR.  The spending package is also expected to include full-year FY 2017 appropriations for veterans programs and military construction projects.

If the measure passes on Monday, expect the Senate to recess until after the election Thursday or Friday. If the Senate passes and leaves, that forces the House into a take it or leave it position with the CR that the Senate passes, meaning pass the Senate bill or shut down the federal government just before an election. And shutting down the government was not very popular last time it happened. 

Keep in mind, this fight will continue next year and play into a larger spending argument, as the nation’s debt limit will be reached in March of next year. The battle could begin as early as March, when the current suspension of any debt limit — negotiated as part of a bipartisan budget deal last year — is set to expire. But Congress could punt the decision for several more months, because of the Treasury’s ability to use financial mechanisms to continue borrowing past the March 15 deadline into the fall.