What We’re Reading This Week, January 4-8

Posted on January 8, 2016

Happy New Year! Here’s a selection of articles the Federal Relations team has been reading this week.

Retail Politics – How a politician comes across in ads and in debates can be very different from how they are day-to-day. Here’s one reporter, who’s been traveling with Cruz campaign, take on candidate. Read more in The Washington Post.

Polar Opposites – The Republican Party that elected Paul Ryan speaker eight weeks ago also rocketed Donald Trump to the top of the national polls eight weeks before that. The men ascended at essentially the same time, but it’s hard to believe they’ll both make it through 2016 politically alive because their philosophies, approaches and opinions are significantly different. Read more in Roll Call.

Welcome Back! – The best known surrogate of the 2016 race, and probably the best known political surrogate period, is back on the trail stumping for his wife. President Bill Clinton is back. Read more in The Hill and The New York Times.

Guns – The White House announced an Executive Order to expand background checks for some firearm purchases and step up federal enforcement of the nation’s gun laws. While the Administration is limited in what it can do, the move is designed to engage governors, state legislators, and local government. Essentially, side stepping Congress on the highly political, divisive issue. Despite previous high-profile efforts by the President to persuade Congress to take up legislation restricting gun sales, neither the House or Senate has done so. Predictably, Congress has already threatened to hold up the Attorney General’s funding in an effort to restrict the move. The Executive Order makes gun sales and control a central issue in the 2016 campaigns. Read more in The New York Times and in Vox.

Freeze in the Arctic State – A hiring freeze and travel ban for Alaska state agencies and employees could have an impact on funding for the WWAMI program in Anchorage. Read more in Governing.

Results – As the Supreme Court considers the affirmative action policy of the University of Texas at Austin (for the second time), the University of Michigan seems to have found the secret to reshaping freshman minority enrollment, all while in the face of Michigan voters banning affirmative action. Read more in The New York Times.

Overstep – In 2010 and 2011, The Obama administration laid out universities’ and school districts’ obligations to address harassment and sexual violence in two key “Dear Colleague” letters, and those letters helped to usher in sweeping changes on many campuses. Critics said federal officials overstepped their bounds by pressuring schools to create quasi-criminal justice systems on campus that fail to adequately protect the rights of the accused. Now, Senator James Lankford (R-OK) has taken up the cause by sending a letter questioning whether the Education Department has exceeded its legal authority in its efforts to push colleges to do more on sexual assault. Read more in The Hill and The Washington Post.

Year in Review – As 2016 starts, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) has their year in review. See it at the OSTP Blog.

President’s FY 2017 Budget Delayed

Posted on January 7, 2016January 8, 2016

The Office of Management and Budget announced that the President’s FY 2017 Budget proposal will be delayed until February 9th. The President’s budget is statutorily required to be presented to Congress the first Monday of February, which this year is February 1st.

A delay on the budget transmission is not a new event for the Administration, and nearly all of the Obama Administration Budgets have been just or well past the first Monday deadline.

Federal Relations will continue to monitor the progress of the budget as well as the release and the resulting impacts.

Lobbying Disclosure Forms Due Wednesday, January 13

Posted on January 4, 2016

If you engaged in federal lobbying activities between October 1 and December 31, 2015, please complete the federal lobbying disclosure form and return it to the Office of Federal Relations (McKinzie Strait – mckinzie@uw.edu) by close of business Wednesday, January 13.

Background

According to the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007, which became effective 1/1/08, the UW Office of Federal Relations is required to report lobbying activities on behalf of the University of Washington to both the Senate and the House of Representatives on a quarterly basis.

UW faculty and staff are not considered lobbyists; however, some do spend time in Washington, DC lobbying Capitol Hill and the Administration for specific projects and funding. The Office of Federal Relations is required to report the total amount of money the University spends each quarter in support of those lobbying efforts, which is why UW staff and faculty are asked to supply that information to this office. Specific names and other information do not appear anywhere on the form that is submitted—all that appears is a dollar figure. The information provided is kept on file to provide supporting documentation should our records be audited by the General Accounting Office.

The paragraphs below detail who lobbying contacts are, and what activities are defined as lobbying. Please use the following criteria to determine what information to report to our office (in order to complete the form correctly):

Lobbying contacts includes communications about legislation, government policy, programs, contracts or nominations with:

Members of Congress
Elected officers of either House of Congress
Employees of a Member of Congress
Employees of either House of Congress
Leadership staff of either House of Congress
Employees of a joint committee of Congress
Employees of a working group or caucus organized to provide assistance to Congress
Schedule “C” employees (political appointees)
Any other legislative branch employees/officers who occupy a position for at least 60 days for which the pay is 120 percent or more of the lower GS-15 level pay
The President and Vice President
Any officer or employee serving in a position in Level I-V of the Executive Schedule
Any member of the uniformed services whose pay grade is at or above 0-7

Federal lobbying activities you must report to UW Federal Relations includes:

The formulation, modification, or adoption of Federal legislation;
The administration or execution of a Federal program or policy;
The formulation, modification or adoption of a Federal rule, regulation, Executive order, policy or position of the United States government;
The nomination or confirmation of a person subject to confirmation by the Senate.

Please do NOT include:

Speeches or articles available to the public through the mass media;
Request for a meeting or status information on an issue;
Testimony given before Congress or submitted to be included in the public record;
Information provided by a request from Congress or subpoena.

You must file your report with our office by close of business (PDT) on WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13. If there was no lobbying activity done for this period please disregard this notice.

More Questions?

Contact McKinzie Strait in UW Federal Relations mckinzie@uw.edu / 202.624.1420

Happy New Year!

Posted on January 4, 2016

The 114th Congress is back in action this week for the second legislative session. The House reconvenes tomorrow and the Senate will return on Monday, January 11th. The 2016 Congressional calendar boasts roughly 110 legislative voting days with plenty of 4-day weekends and an early summer recess – beginning in July and running through Labor Day.

Congress will begin the New Year with a busy agenda. First, as a reminder, all legislation that was in play last year carries over to this second session of Congress. That means that there are plenty of existing bills to consider, with more on the way.

Second, it appears that Congress will attempt to take action on FY 2017 appropriations bills early this year. With funding for the current fiscal year finally behind them, albeit three months late, Republican leaders have pledged to restore the regular budget process by clearing the 12 annual appropriations bills to fund the government by October 1st, the start of the new fiscal year. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) has indicated that he wants to begin considering spending bills on the House floor by mid-March, an unusually early schedule for bills that often don’t reach the floor until the summer or later. The task could be made easier this year because of a two-year bipartisan budget agreement passed in October that already established overall spending levels for defense and domestic programs for FY 2017. That means lawmakers can begin their work this year with the top-line spending limits already settled.

And finally, there are plenty of policy issues to watch for in 2016 – mostly carryover issues from last year. We expect to hear more about Syrian refugees and homeland security, criminal justice reform, taxes, and gun control. We also expect to see some movement on FDA reforms, similar to those already approved in the House approved 21^st Century Cures bill, as well as efforts to reauthorize the Higher Education Act.

Other than those pressing issues, Congress will be overshadowed by the Presidential campaign. The National Journal has a great article out today that poses 11 questions that will define Congress in 2016 – many of which revolve around Presidential politics.

What We’re Reading This Week, December 21-25

Posted on December 21, 2015December 22, 2015

Happy Holidays! Here’s a selection of articles the Federal Relations team is reading this week.

Tax 2.0 – Congressional leadership is saying that passage of a major tax deal has increased the chances that Congress will tackle tax reform in 2017. Read more at The Hill.

Big Boost – Congress passes a 2016 spending and tax bill that blows away caps on discretionary spending to fund more student aid and health research. Read more at Inside Higher Ed.

Bernie v. DNC – The Sanders campaign took advantage of a down firewall to access Clinton campaign voter data. The DNC subsequently barred the Sanders campaign from any of the DNC data. Politico has an overview, and the New York Times has why voter data is important.

5 Myths – Here are the five most common myths (and some tips) about wine for your holiday season. Tip: put your wine in the blender for 30 seconds..Who knew? Read more at Food 52.

Diary of Air Travel – A visual diary documenting a flight from New York to Berlin (with a layover in London). Read it at The New York Times.