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Category: On the Hill

Senate Keeps Moving

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Only the Senate is in session this week, as the House recessed early for the Fourth of July work period last week. The Senate plans to keep working on the FY 2017 CJS bill this week and should also turn to their FY 2017 Military-Construction-Veterans (Mil-Con appropriations bills. Also on tap this week, possibly the Supplemental Appropriations for Zika funding.

The final version of the Mil-Con spending bill, which the Senate plans to take up this week, is traditionally the first and least controversial of the 12 annual measures needed to fund the government. No one wants to vote against military veterans, after all, and the package usually steers clear of the contentious ideological provisions that can doom other bills.

Unfortunately, this no normal year. the bill appears headed for the trash heap. Supporters appear to lack the 60 votes required under Senate rules to advance it, mostly because it’s attached to a bitterly contested funding package to combat the Zika virus. Even if it clears the Senate, the White House has promised a veto.

The House and Senate’s scheduled mid-July departure for the party political conventions and an extended summer recess leaves maybe a dozen days for legislative business.

Zika Deal Reached

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Early Thursday morning, the House approved a Zika funding package, the product of a House-Senate conference report that was crafted just hours before.

House Democrats’ unusual daylong protest over gun control finally ended early Thursday morning after Republican leaders moved to adjourn the House through the July 4 recess – without a gun vote.

As a result, House hearings and legislation that had been planned for this week are now delayed at least 11 days. Another consequence, and shocking bonus — a surprisingly speedy vote on a major Zika funding deal.

What’s in the $1.1 billion package: 

  • $476 million to CDC for mosquito control
  • $230 million to NIH for vaccines
  • $165 million to the State Department and USAID to respond to outbreaks overseas
  • $86 million for emergency response research through the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority.

The package is offset by about $750 million from unspent Ebola and Obamacare funds, in addition to another $100 million from HHS’s administrative fund. It now heads to the Senate for a vote, where it’s expected to face resistance.

Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee said they won’t support the deal and called for negotiations to continue.

After the measure passed, the House recessed for the Fourth of July work period.

SCOTUS: Fisher v. Texas

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Today, the Supreme Court today upheld the University of Texas at Austin’s (UT) consideration of race and ethnicity in college admissions. The ruling came in a case, Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, about the admissions practices at the UT, but will likely affect admissions and financial aid policies in most institutes of higher education.

In a 4-3 decision, the court ruled that that the primary reason that the plaintiff in the case was denied admission to the university was not its consideration of race in admissions, but of Texas’ “10 percent plan.” The plan, as enacted by the Texas legislature, allows students within the top 10 percent of their high school graduating class to be admitted to the public college or university of their choice.

The university does have “a continuing obligation to satisfy the strict scrutiny burden: by periodically reassessing the admission program’s constitutionality, and efficacy, in light of the school’s experience and the data it has gathered since adopting its admissions plan, and by tailoring its approach to ensure that race plays no greater role than is necessary to meet its compelling interests.”

Senate Subcommittee Passes FY 2017 Labor-H

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Today, the Senate appropriations subcommittee approved the first bipartisan Labor-H funding bill since Obamacare became law more than six years ago.

The Senate’s FY 2017 bill includes a $2 billion increase for NIH (the same as the FY 2016 increase), a near doubling of funding to fight the opioid epidemic to $261 million, and $7.1 billion for CDC – $76 million more than the White House requested. Additionally, the Pell grant program would be expanded allowing students to access Pell over the summer. The expansion would allow roughly a million students to receive a second grant to take a third semester of classes, usually in the summer, helping them to graduate sooner. The students would also be expected to graduate with less debt, as the average recipient would be expected to see $1,650 more in aid. Additionally, the Senate bill would allow students to receive the additional Pell Grant even if they only attended school part-time. In the Administration’s FY 2017 budget proposal, the White House proposed an expansion to summer Pell, but would limit year-round Pell only to full-time students. 

The legislation does not include any new restrictions on funding for the Affordable Care Act, which has been one of the key obstacles to a bipartisan funding bill in recent years. Additionally, the legislation also avoided cuts to Title X women’s health and family planning programs, which have been the source of partisan battles in recent years.

The full Senate Appropriations committee will mark up the legislation on Thursday morning.

Federal Relations will continue to monitor the legislation and will post as more information becomes available.

Congress Gets Back to Work for the Long Slog

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The House and Senate return to work this week in what will be the largest number of consecutive legislative days prior to the August Recess.  Both legislative bodies will push pause and briefly come together for a joint session to receive Indian Prime Minister Modi.

The Senate returns today to resume consideration on its FY 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, which was slightly detoured last week. The Senate Appropriations Committee to have full consideration of the FY 2017 Labor-H Appropriations bill this week — subcommittee will mark up Tuesday and full committee will consider Thursday. The Labor-H bill contains many of the issues that the higher education community is concerned about including student loans, Pell grants, Perkins, and NIH funding among others. The bill is currently in a close hold, but it is expected to expand the Pell grant program to become year round.

More information will be made available as soon as possible.

The House will return Wednesday to consider the FY 2017 Legislative Affairs appropriations bill as well as legislation to bailout Puerto Rico from its $70 billion in debt (for an island of under 3.5 million people). The island has defaulted three times, and its next big payout is due July 1. The Puerto Rico “bailout” has been very controversial on the House-side of the Hill. The territory has argued it simply needs leniency to restructure its current debt to reduce or delay payments.

Meanwhile, the FY 2017 Legislative Affairs bill could be the debut of the new House standard operating procedure of considering appropriations bills under a structured rule, rather than the traditional open rule. The traditional open rule having caused significant meltdown of the FY 2017 E&W bill before the break.