Today, the White House has issued a Statement of Administrative Policy (SAP) in support of the budget deal that will soon pass the House. In it’s support of the passage of HR 1314, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, the Administration’s specifically cited its support of the inclusion of funds for education, job training and research.
Category: On the Hill
Library of Congress Changes Copyright
This morning, the Copyright Office announced the widely anticipated results of its sixth triennial process for exemptions to intellectual property law – making potentially controversial judgments on whether hackers, researchers and ordinary consumers can tinker with products ranging from iPads to cars.
Under Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the Librarian of Congress, with the guidance of the Copyright Office, has power to grant exemptions every three years for restrictions against consumers breaking software protections.
The Librarian’s decisions on all 27 proposed exemptions can be found here.
Ryan Is Running for Speaker
After a multi-week “will he or won’t he?”, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) has officially announced that he will run for Speaker. Ryan, popular among GOP and Democrats, will be voted in next week.
Debt Ceiling Plan Alludes House GOP
The U.S. government is 12 calendar days – or 7 scheduled congressional work days – from reaching the debt limit without a clear plan of what to do. GOP leaders are so far refusing to advance a ‘clean’ debt ceiling bill that both President Obama and Democrats would support. The problem there is that the GOP leadership can’t find the 30 Republican votes they would need to join with all 188 Democrats to pass such a proposal.
One option under discussion is a proposal from the conservative Republican Study Committee, which would require House committees to produce legislation to enact spending cuts contained in the budget resolution – basically a series of cuts to equal the amount raised for the debt ceiling. This type of measure is unlikely to get a vote and even if it did, the President and Senate Democrats would block its passage. They are insisting on a ‘clean’ debt ceiling increase or suspension.
Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew has estimated that he would exhaust “extraordinary measures” to extend the government’s borrowing authority by November 3, 2015.
Read more from Politico here.
Ryan to Run (With Conditions) and Speaker Elections Set
Last night, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) announced that he would run for Speaker if he could have the support of the whole Republican caucus. Ryan told theGOP conference in a closed door meeting that he would seek the top spot only if he received the endorsement of the three largest GOP groups—the Freedom Caucus, the Republican Study Committee, and the Tuesday Group. Ryan informally met with the Freedom Caucus on Tuesday and will meet with the Republican Study Committee on Wednesday/this morning and the Freedom Caucus this afternoon.
The House Freedom Caucus has made it know that collectively they are wary about Ryan’s “demands” saying he’s setting them up for the blame if he ultimately doesn’t run. It is generally acknowledged by members of the Freedom Caucus that the larger GOP conference views Ryan as the only member able to get 218 votes, and group as a whole would be blamed for stopping his candidacy if they don’t support him. Many members of the conservative caucus worked to oust Speaker John Boehner and claimed victory earlier this month when Boehner announced he would step down. The members are concerned that Ryan is unwilling to make tangible promises to change the policies and rules governing how the House operates.
First this morning after Ryan’s announcement, Speaker John Boehner stated that the internal Republican election for speaker will be October 28, and the floor election will be October 29.