What We’re Reading This Week, May 9-13

Posted on May 12, 2016May 12, 2016

Here’s a selection of articles the Federal Relations team is enjoying this week.

Best Time to Be a College Graduate – Employers added 160,000 employees in April, downshifting from the monthly average of 192,000 workers so far this year. While the downshift isn’t good news, the job market for recent college graduates is booming. Overall unemployment numbers are steady at five percent, and recent college graduates have unemployment numbers half of that. Read more at NPR.

For the Future – NSF Administrator France Cordova unveiled a research agenda intended to shape the agency’s next few decades and win over the next US President and Congress. It contains nine big ideas to illustrate how increased support for the type of basic research that NSF funds could help answer pressing societal problems. Read more in Science.

Uh…Unity?…Now??…Nah, Never Mind – Early in the week, the GOP presumptive presidential nominee was expected to turn his tune towards inclusion and unity or so said Republican party thought leaders…but is there any chance of that? With the nomination all but assured, it would be conventional, normal, and prudent for Trump to start reaching out and building a coalltion in preparation for the general election. That said, the immediate response by Republican leadership to Trump’s lock of the nomination was tepid at best. The fractious coalition of conservatives that we used to know as the Republican Party is, after a decade of fraying ties between the Washington establishment and its base, is now composed of two separate coalitions. Read more at Politico. But in advance of two, very publicized meetings with House and Senate leadership, while following a three hour meeting the GOP party leader early in the week, Trump had not followed convention by trying to mend fences and provide a united front. Rather, he’s taken every opportunity to lob pot shots at Paul Ryan as well as Hillary Clinton. Why? He’s got a mandate or as he explained, a hit broadway show with this campaign now. Read more in the New York Times.

Getting “Cantored” – Now a verb, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin pushed back against Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), presumably for his nonsupport of Donald Trump. In a recent speech, Palin announced she would support a primary challenger in Ryan’s race. She then compared efforts in the Ryan race to last cycle’s shocking loss of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), which sent the House GOP into a tailspin. Read more in The Washington Post.

Potty Police – North Carolina Republicans are increasingly worried that the state’s new ‘bathroom law’ blocking protections for the LGBT community will cost the GOP dearly in November’s elections. They say the reason is simple: the party that took over North Carolina as champions of small government is now seen by moderate voters as the party of the bathroom police. The “public safety” rationale for the law has seen major pushback by major American businesses. Read more in Politico.

Rock & Hard Place – Meanwhile, the law has a practical impact on North Carolina constituents, such as the University of North Carolina. As the federal government and state elected leaders launched legal battles over North Carolina’s controversial bathroom law this week and last, UNC system President Margaret Spellings said the university is “truly caught in the middle.” The Justice Department sent a letter to the UNC President saying that the university’s federal funding was endanger if it complied with the North Carolina law. In the 2014-2015 school year, the UNC System received $1.4 billion in federal funding over the 11 campuses. Spellings responded to Justice late Monday with a letter saying the university is committed to complying with federal non-discrimination laws, but also required to follow the law of the state. Read more in the Raleigh News & Observer.

Politics of Restrooms – Why do mayors, city councils, and state legislatures even care what restrooms people can or should use? It’s not simply about bathroom choice, but the expanding the rights of the socially disenfranchised, the right to privacy, the backlash over marriage equality, and the fundamental chasm between socially liberal Democrats (mostly mayors of cities) and socially conservative Republicans (state legislatures). Read more in Vox.

Kinda the Current Republican Equivalent of Obi Wan – On the national GOP’s standing rules committee, Curly Haugland has been the pedantic curmudgeon, the stubborn speed bump who for years has raised points of order only to watch establishment Republicans stampede over him. This year, he might be the only thing preventing Trump from getting the nomination — on the first ballot. Read more in Politico.

Brazil – In a country beset with issues this year (economic crisis, Zika, impending Olympics), the Brazilian Senate voted this week to suspend the first female President Dilma Rousseff. Her 180 day suspension gives the Senate time to contemplate her impeachment for fiscal improprieties related to government spending. Rousseff has endured an almost Shakespearian fall from grace and power as former allies rally against her and scandals besiege her. This turn of events is all precipitated by her efforts to protect her mentor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, know as Lula, who is a central figure in Petrobras scandal, one of the most sweeping bribery scandals ever. Read more in The Guardian. Vox also has a good overview of the issue.

Dope – Speaking of the Olympics, a former Russian official and head of the anti-doping lab revealed that dozens of Russian athletes at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, including at least 15 medal winners, were part of a state-run doping program, meticulously planned for years to ensure dominance at the Russian held Winter Games. according to the director of the country’s anti-doping laboratory at the time. Read more in the New York Times.

SafeTrack – In a huge announcement this week (to those who live in or around or travel to the District of Columbia), the Washington Area Metro Authority announced a drastic plan to do much-needed and long-over due repairs to the metro system. Part of this plan is to do “safety surges” which requires shutting down large swaths of the Metro system for multiple weeks at a time, effectively shutting down access to parts of DC for up to five weeks. Long and short, Metro is trying to cram three years of deferred maintenance into a single year by shutting down track, single tracking lines, and limiting working hours. Expect fewer trains, more time on platforms and lesser access. Read more about SafeTrack at The Washington Post.

Senate E&W Clog Cleared, Final Passage Is In Sight

Posted on May 11, 2016

In an effort to move forward, The Senate rejected the motion to invoke cloture to limit debate on Senator Tom Cotton’s (R-AR) controversial amendment related to the Iran nuclear deal. The failure of the amendment to win cloture breaks a two-week logjam that hindered the progress of the $37.5 billion FY 2017 Energy-Water spending bill.

Technically, a cloture motion, which requires two thirds support, is designed to purely end Senate debate on a measure or amendment and move forward to a up or down or fifty plus one percent vote. However, given the recent even distribution of the political parties in the Senate, the cloture motion is used by the Senate to gage support of a measure or issue up for debate overall. Failure to invoke cloture typically results in a withdrawal of a measure and is considered a failed vote.

With the Cotton amendment failing to invoke cloture, the Senator is expected to withdraw his amendment, which paves the way for the Senate to consider three remaining amendments (all of which are expected to pass). Final passage of the Senate FY 2017 Energy & Water Appropriations bill is expected on Wednesday.

Third Time Isn’t Charming for Senate E&W

Posted on May 10, 2016May 11, 2016

In an expected turn of events, the Senate failed to invoke cloture last night. The Senate’s third attempt to get the 60 votes needed to limit debate on the substitute amendment for the FY 2017 Energy-Water appropriations bill fell short.

Senate Democrats have refused to support advancing the measure unless Republicans abandon a proposed amendment by Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) that would prevent the Energy Department from using FY 2017 funds for a planned purchase of heavy water, a byproduct of nuclear fuel processing, from Iran.

The White House has said the amendment would disrupt its agreement to focus Iran’s nuclear development efforts on energy rather than weapons and force President Barack Obama to veto the overall spending measure.

The path forward for this FY 2017 bill remains unclear.

Interesting Week Ahead

Posted on May 9, 2016

The House and Senate return to work this week, including former Presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz.

The Senate will try for the third time on Monday to advance its $37.5 billion fiscal 2017 Energy-Water appropriations bill, but there is no indication that leaders will find the 60 votes needed to break the logjam caused by the threat of an amendment related to the Iranian nuclear development deal. Previously, President Obama threatened to veto the bill over an amendment proposed by Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) that would bar funding for the U.S. to buy so-called heavy water from Iran. Conversely, the Republican-derided Iran Nuclear Deal requires Iran to export the water, which is a byproduct of nuclear fuel production. Without a plan forward, the bill looks to stall out just as it has previously. Senate Republican leadership has suggested allowing Senator Cotton to hold a vote on the amendment as a separate measure, but it is unclear if Senate Democrats are open to the idea.

Meanwhile, the House will turn its attention to opioid abuse by focusing on two bills (H.R. 5046 – Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Reduction Act of 2016 and S. 524 – Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016) designed to give relief to American local communities dealing with the spike of opioid abuse. Additionally, the House will gear up for consideration of the FY 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) next week. The NDAA is the annual authorization bill determines the agencies responsible for our nation’s defense, establishes funding levels, and sets the policies under which money will be spent.

With less than 50 legislative days left before October 1, which is the statutorily mandated dated start of the federal fiscal year, the likelihood of the Congress considering all 12 of the standing appropriations bills continues to shrink. A continuing resolution is all but assured in September before Congress recesses for the election.

What We’re Reading This Week, May 2-6

Posted on May 6, 2016May 6, 2016

Here’s a selection of articles the Federal Relations team is enjoying this week.

Crumbles and Cracks, Cruz’s Demise – When Senator Ted Cruz emerged as Donald Trump’s sole serious challenger, Cruz needed to pivot and win over the same Republican Party insiders he had built his career running against; he needed them to rally around him. Their problem wasn’t with Cruz’s hard-line conservative principles. It was his hard-edged personality and political practices. Many of his congressional colleagues and mainstream Republicans stayed on the sidelines. Some embraced Trump. Others attacked Cruz, including former Speaker John Boehner, who called him “Lucifer in the flesh.” A few endorsed half-heartedly. They might have feared Trump. But they loathed Cruz. One of Cruz’s few endorsers, Lindsey Graham, compared the choice to poison or being shot. Read more in Politico.

Ray McKinley, Hotel Commodore, New York, N.Y., ca. Apr. 1946 (LOC)

Houses or Education – A few years ago, as the country grappled with the meteoric rise of student debt, economists warned that education loans were holding back college graduates from buying homes, putting a damper on the economic recovery. Yet a new look at popular data used to support that claim tells a very different story. Read more in The Washington Post.

Concealed Carry – Georgia Governor Nathan Deal’s decision to reject House Bill 859, which would legalize firearms at all public colleges in Georgia, comes almost a month after the Governor infuriated many religious conservatives by vetoing “religious liberty” legislation that would have extended legal protections to opponents of same-sex marriages. It was a no win situation for the Governor. Read more in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Slight Adjustments – Dept of Ed officials adjusted the student-loan default rates of 21 colleges, helping them to avoid sanctions in the past two years that could have resulted in a loss of federal funding, according to a list released by the Education Department. The list, released to The Wall Street Journal this week in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, included one school whose chief executive was later imprisoned for defrauding the government of nearly $1 million in federal student aid. Read more at the Wall Street Journal.

Just Not There – On Wednesday morning, not even 24 hours after Donald Trump effectively clinched the Republican nomination, Paul Ryan convened his top advisers for a call. With Congress out of session, Ryan was bouncing between multiple states, raising the piles of money needed to keep House Republicans in the majority. Ryan never expected Trump to lock up the nomination so quickly. Read more in Politico.

Foreign Students – Many people assume foreign students at U.S. colleges are rich, pampered youths out to have a good time before returning home to lives of privilege. Sometimes this is true. But as the number of foreign students surges on U.S. campuses—nearly a million were enrolled last year, up more than 40% from five years earlier—more are coming from middle-class backgrounds like Fan Yue’s. They’re eager to escape flawed education systems back home, where low standards are leaving many ill-prepared for a global economy. Read more in the Wall Street Journal.