House and Senate Leadership have decided to forego the Omnibus or minibus appropriations for FY 2017 and pass a short-term CR. The CR will last until March 31, 2017. The CR will be crafted to maintain the current rate of funding.
More details will be reported when more is known.
Yesterday, armed services leaders from the House and the Senate took a significant step forward in wrapping up the 2017 National Defense Authorization. While negotiations are still underway, committee leadership reportedly agreed upon adding around $9 billion to the Pentagon budget to fund wars and fill readiness shortfalls. Since the negotiations are highly sensitive, they are done in secret so Politico and Defense News reports on the ongoing negotiations are not confirmed.
The House and Senate versions of the NDAA were $18 billion apart after the House added that amount to the $610 billion Pentagon request. Thus, $9 billion is a compromise between the two chambers. It is worth noting that, according to Politico, the measure will halt the drawdown of troops in FY 2017.
More info from Defense News here.
Today Senate Democrats held leadership elections, placing some familiar faces in new roles within the caucus. New York’s Senator Chuck Schumer will take the helm as Minority Leader, a position vacated by Harry Reid (NV) following his retirement at the end of the 114th Congress. Minority Whip goes to Illinois’ Senator Richard Durbin and our own Senator Patty Murray (WA) will take on the role of Assistant Leader, making her the third highest ranking person within the Senate Democratic hierarchy. (Congrats Senator Murray!!) Also of note, Senator Schumer expanded the leadership team to include Senator Bernie Sanders, who will assume the new role of Chair of Outreach.
Sanders will also assume the Ranking Minority role on the Committee on Budget. Senator Murray will remain Ranking Minority on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and Senator Maria Cantwell remains Ranking Minority on the Energy & Natural Resources Committee. Here is a list of all Leadership and Committee positions for the 115th Congress.
The Senate Democratic Leadership for the 115th Congress:
Senate Democratic Leader and Chair of the Conference: Senator Charles Schumer
Democratic Whip: Senator Dick Durbin
Assistant Democratic Leader: Senator Patty Murray
Chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee: Senator Debbie Stabenow
Vice Chair of the Conference: Senator Elizabeth Warren
Vice Chair of the Conference: Senator Mark Warner
Chair of Steering Committee: Senator Amy Klobuchar
Chair of Outreach: Senator Bernie Sanders
Vice Chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee: Senator Joe Manchin
Senate Democratic Conference Secretary: Senator Tammy Baldwin
The committee ranking members for the 115th Congress:
Agriculture: Senator Debbie Stabenow
Armed Services: Senator Jack Reed
Appropriations: Senator Patrick Leahy
Banking: Senator Sherrod Brown
Budget: Senator Bernie Sanders
Commerce: Senator Bill Nelson
Energy: Senator Maria Cantwell
EPW: Senator Tom Carper
Finance: Senator Ron Wyden
Foreign Relations: Senator Ben Cardin
HELP: Senator Patty Murray
HSGAC: Senator Claire McCaskill
Indian Affairs: Senator Tom Udall
Judiciary: Senator Dianne Feinstein
Rules: Senator Amy Klobuchar
Small Business: Senator Jeanne Shaheen
Veterans Affairs: Senator Jon Tester
Aging: Senator Bob Casey
Ethics: Senator Chris Coons
Intelligence: Senator Mark Warner
JEC: Senator Martin Heinrich
House Democrats have delayed their caucus leadership elections which were slated for Thursday. The current Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), agreed to the delay at a closed-door conference meeting. Initially it appeared the House Democrats would decide on Thursday whether to go forward with their elections that day but decided today to simply delay the election.
Some House Democrats had been pressing for a delay in Thursday’s vote, something that could conceivably give more time for an opponent of Pelosi’s to mount a challenge.
The election will now be held on November 30.
Former Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal is in the running for Secretary of HHS. He has health care policy in his background. At just 24 years old, he served as secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, and later served as principal policy adviser to HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson in President George W. Bush’s administration. Pence and Jindal served in the House together.
Jindal has proposed Obamacare replacement plan, which he first released in 2014. Full report: More. Executive summary: More.
However, others are still in the mix, and Jindal was no fan of Trump during the Republican primaries. Jindal also attempted a run for president this cycle and then threw his support to Rubio. That could take him out of serious contention.
Dr. Ben Carson, presidential nominee, has announced he will not be in the Trump Cabinet effectively taking himself out of the running for a series of Secretary positions to which his name has been linked.