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TheWeekInCongress.com - August 2, 2011 - The Senate agreed 74 to 26 to S 365 as amended and passed by the House. S 365 became the vehicle for the final plan that emulates several provisions of S 627.

CBO explains the bill provisions:

Establish caps on discretionary spending through 2021;
Allow for certain amounts of additional spending for "program integrity" initiatives aimed at reducing the amount of improper benefit payments;
Make changes to the Pell Grant and student loan programs;
Require that the House of Representatives and the Senate vote on a joint resolution proposing a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution;
Establish a procedure to increase the debt limit by $400 billion initially and procedures that would allow the limit to be raised further in two additional steps, for a cumulative increase of between $2.1 trillion and $2.4 trillion;
Reinstate and modify certain budget process rules;
Create a Congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to propose further deficit reduction, with a stated goal of achieving at least $1.5 trillion in budgetary savings over 10 years; and
Establish automatic procedures for reducing spending by as much as $1.2 trillion if legislation originating with the new joint select committee does not achieve such savings.

CBO estimates that the legislation—apart from the provisions related to the joint select committee—would reduce budget deficits by $917 billion between 2012 and 2021. In addition, legislation originating with the joint select committee, or the automatic reductions in spending that would occur in the absence of such legislation, would reduce deficits by at least $1.2 trillion over the 10-year period. Therefore, the deficit reduction stemming from this legislation would total at least $2.1 trillion over the 2012–2021 period."

The President signed the bill into law today.

TheWeekInCongress.com - August 1, 2011 - Public comments from the White House and Senate leaders indicate a deal has been reached and has support of sufficient Senators to pass the bill. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), by voting against his own amendment yesterday, set in motion the opportunity to bring the measure to the floor by calling to revisit that previous vote. Reid is assured of avoiding cloture votes or procedural objections.

In the House, Majority and Minority leaders are attempting to line up the votes possibly for this afternoon or evening or on Tuesday. The bill is not guaranteed passage in the house as of this morning as liberal and conservative hawks are concerned with potential cuts to defense spending as well as others who lament the absence of tax increases in the plan.

The Congressional Budget Office has scored the proposed bill. CBO notes the bill would:

Establish caps on discretionary spending through 2021;
Allow for certain amounts of additional spending for "program integrity" initiatives aimed at reducing the amount of improper benefit payments;
Make changes to the Pell Grant and student loan programs;
Require that the House of Representatives and the Senate vote on a joint resolution proposing a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution;
Establish a procedure to increase the debt limit by $400 billion initially and procedures that would allow the limit to be raised further in two additional steps, for a cumulative increase of between $2.1 trillion and $2.4 trillion;
Reinstate and modify certain budget process rules;
Create a Congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to propose further deficit reduction, with a stated goal of achieving at least $1.5 trillion in budgetary savings over 10 years; and
Establish automatic procedures for reducing spending by as much as $1.2 trillion if legislation originating with the new joint select committee does not achieve such savings.

CBO calculates "If appropriations in the next 10 years are equal to the caps on discretionary spending and the maximum amount of funding is provided for the program integrity initiatives, CBO estimates that the legislation—apart from the provisions related to the joint select committee—would reduce budget deficits by $917 billion between 2012 and 2021. In addition, legislation originating with the joint select committee, or the automatic reductions in spending that would occur in the absence of such legislation, would reduce deficits by at least $1.2 trillion over the 10-year period. Therefore, the deficit reduction stemming from this legislation would total at least $2.1 trillion over the 2012–2021 period."

The bill in the House took the form of an amendment to S 365, a Senate-passed bill aiming to make technical amendments to an education bill, and is expected to be voted on in the Senate on August 2nd. The House passed S 365 amended 269 to 161.

TheWeekInCongress.com - July 31, 2011 - Senate leaders and the White House are considering a compromise debt reduction plan so to avoid a default on government debts by August 2nd when the Treasury may no longer have enough money to pay them.

The new plan, while many details have not yet been reported, would focus on balancing cuts with borrowing increases. The total amount of borrowing power increase proposed is $2.4 trillion, an amount that shouldn't require another increase until 2013. The increase would be two-staged with about a one trillion increase coupled with around that much in spending cuts to government agencies occurring immediately.

Like the Rep. Boehner (R-OH) and Senator Reid (D-NV) plans the bill would create a commission to consider more spending cuts later in 2011 the amount of which would dictate how much further the debt limit would be raised if necessary, consider entitlement changes, and what events would trigger cuts or tax increases should the commission not act. The plan does not specifically propose any tax increases.

Also proposed under the Senate/White House plan is a resolution through which Congress could disapprove a debt increase with a two thirds vote in both bodies. The plan may also require consideration of a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.

This negotiation, considered by many as the last chance to avoid default follows Rep. John Boehner's S 627 that passed the House but was tabled in the Senate and HR 2693, a bill fashioned by David Dreier (R-CA) that reflected the elements of the plan proposed by Reid and which failed in the House on a near party line vote as 11 Democrats joined Republicans to defeat the bill.

The importance of the negotiations is underscored by today's cloture vote on the Reid substitute amendment to S 627 in the Senate. The motion to concur with the House Message on S 627 failed to achieve the 60 vote minimum in a 50 to 49 vote. Senator Reid voted against cloture in a parliamentary move that allows him to reintroduce his amendments again.

Further action on the debt issue is expected after the Senate/White House meeting reaches a deal either this evening or Monday.

TheWeekInCongress.com - July 30, 2011 - After tabling Boehner's bill the Senate will take up a bill of the same nature proposed by Senator Reid on Sunday.

There are more similarities between Boehner and Reid than differences but CBO scoring calculates that Reid's bill offers greater savings.

CBO reported the differences:

Boehner's discretionary caps would save $756 billion, Reid's would save $751 billion. for Program Integrity Initiatives (spending to reign in overpayments and other program anomalies that cost money) Boehner seeks a $1 billion cut, Reid adds $17 billion to the effort. Under mandatory spending cuts Boehner would save $5 billion and Reid would save $24 billion; Under debt services for non-overseas contingency spending Boehner would save $156 billion and Reid would save $151 billion. At those levels CBO totals Boehner's bill savings at $915 billion over ten years and Reid's savings at $909 billion over ten. But Reid would put a cap on spending for overseas contingencies (Wars and similar engagements) to save $1,044 billion, Boehner does not address the issue in his bill. The totals after adding Reid's cuts to overseas contingencies, Boehner shows savings of $915 billion over ten years and Reid would save $2.176 trillion over the same time periods.

The House took up HR 2693 called the Bi-Partisan Budget Control Act of 2011 presented by Rules Committee Chairman Rep David Dreier (R-CA). Dreier's bill revises Boehner's with focuses on increasing funds to the IRS for the purpose of enforcing the tax gap estimated at over $300 billion by increasing payments to the IRS ranging from around $700 million in 2012 to $1.2 billion in 2021. Dreier would save $223 billion on overseas contingency debt service from the caps on that spending.

Dreier also proposes revenues from auctioning safety airwaves within the 700MHs range (Safety broadcasts) to the private sector for either private sector ownership or a combined federal-private partnership.

The bill is supported by and emulates Reid's bill with some changes and is considered agreeable to many House Democrats and the Senate because, unlike Boehner's bill, the debt limit increase is substantial enough to carry necessary spending until after the 2012 elections.

The bill, however, failed in the house on a 173 to 246 vote.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was reported by the Washington Post as having delivered 42 Republican signatures to Majority Leader Reid. The letter explains that the Reid plan is unacceptable to Senate Republicans and that the White House again must be engaged in the process.

HR 2693 Bill report and votes.

TheWeekInCongress.com - July 29, 2011 - The expected Thursday evening vote on S 627 was postponed as bill managers sought sufficient votes for passage. Today, the House considered HRES 382, a resolution that waives the requirement of a two-thirds vote to consider a rule on the same day it is reported from the House Rules Committee. The rule allows for changes to HR 627 prior to a vote on the bill.

Boehner managed to gather 219 votes to make the two thirds requirement for passage. The bill will next go to the Senate where consideration is not likely.

CBO weighed in Friday by comparing the savings of the Boehner plan (HR 627) and the plan soon to be unveiled by Senate Majority Leader Reid.

On Boehner; "...we (CBO) estimated cumulative savings, including debt service, of $917 billion over the 2012–2021 period for implementing the Budget Control Act of 2011, as proposed in the House on July 25, 2011, with an amendment proposed on July 27, 2011. (Those savings are measured relative to CBO's March 2011 baseline, adjusted to reflect enactment of 2011 appropriations.) That proposal did not address future funding for war-related activities."

On Reid; "... we (CBO) estimated cumulative savings, including debt service, of $2,176 billion over the 2012–2021 period for implementing the Budget Control Act of 2011, as proposed in the Senate on July 25, 2011. (Again, those savings are measured relative to CBO's March 2011 baseline, adjusted to reflect enactment of 2011 appropriations.) The cumulative savings for Majority Leader Reid's July 25 proposal include the effects of establishing caps on new funding for war-related activities.

Excluding the effects of the caps on funding for operations in Afghanistan and Iraq and similar activities from Majority Leader Reid's July 25 proposal would yield 10-year savings of $909 billion, including debt-service effects, $8 billion less (over the 2012–2021 period) than estimated for Speaker Boehner's July 27 proposal."

The Senate voted to table Boehner's bill in a 59 to 41 vote.

S 627 Bill report and votes.

TheWeekInCongress.com - July 28, 2011 - The House is considering S 627, a Senate bill aiming to speed up freedom of information requests, but changed the name of the legislation to the Budget Control Act of 2011 and replaced the Senate text with the text of a budget plan presented by the House Speaker, Rep John Boehner (R-OH).

The Speaker's proposal came after budget negotiations with the President did not meet his satisfaction. Reportedly Boehner was working with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) but that relationship, too, seems to have waned as Boehner launched his plan and Reid continues to develop his.

Boehner has captured the limelight on this issue leaving behind any thoughts of a plan between he and the White House, Senator Mitch McConnell's (R-KY) stopgap proposal, and another plan by the Senate 'Gang of Six' which still may be viable as a bipartisan alternative when the Boehner plan make it to the Senate.

Boehner's plan is reported to cut spending up to $3 trillion over the next ten years. The spending cuts are considered in exchange for raising the debt limit by $2.6 trillion in two stages; $1 trillion immediately and another $1.6 trillion in the near future before the 2012 elections. Should the future cuts be made the plan then allows the President to borrow another $900 billion.

Reid's plan as we know it now would cut the deficit by $2.7 trillion over ten years and raise the debt ceiling by $2.6 trillion until after the 2012 elections.

Neither plan proposes tax increases.

The Reid proposal includes a calculated savings from the reduction of spending for Iraq and Afghanistan military operations. The war spending reduction has been calculated at $1 trillion. While some have stated that the war spending savings is not a legitimate cut, that spending is discretionary and discretionary spending reductions is the primary target for both plans. The CBO has rated the provision as valid.

Each plan would create a commission to work out details. The commission would be appointed and tasked with carrying out greater cuts by December. Boehner seeks an additional $1.6 trillion in cuts by that month. Reid asks for sufficient cuts to the deficit to bring it in line with representing 3% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

A more detailed view of the proposals show that Boehner seeks to impose specific discretionary spending caps and Reid would reduce mandatory spending by $100 billion. Those cuts would include an anticipated $30 billion from reforming Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac and about $12 billion in agricultural reforms. Reid's cuts do not include Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security.

Boehner requires a vote on creating a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution but does not require passage of that element as a condition for passage of S 627.

With passage of S 627 as amended by the House, the bill will probably face the same fate in the Senate; that of having the House text replaced with the final Reid proposal to be developed over the next few days. Reid could find his bill influenced by some elements of the 'Gang of Six' proposal that, unlike Reid and Boehner, sought increased revenues by a rewrite of the US Tax Code. The Gang plan aims to save $2.5 trillion but targets entitlement programs. The earlier plan from McConnell and Reid was mostly discretionary cuts and the Republican House plan last week - HR 2560 Cut, Cap, and Balance - cut the deepest at over $5 trillion and set spending limits on most entitlements other than those for the military, veterans, and for Homeland Security expenses. That bill, however, was not considered by the Senate.

CBO establishes budget baselines based on current legislation and historical patterns among other considerations. The baseline can change quarterly depending on what legislation Congress approves and their cost. Using the January baseline CBO calculates that the bill would reduce the deficit by $1.1 trillion between 2012 and 2021. Discretionary savings would amount to $920 billion, mandatory savings would amount to $20 billion and savings on the interest on the public debt would come to about $195 billion.

If CBO uses the March baseline the overall savings would total $915 billion between 2012 and 2021 of which $740 billion would come from saving in discretionary spending, $20 billion from mandatory spending, and $155 billion from reductions in the interest on the public debt.

Prior to the vote Boehner amended his bill to add elements other Members required for their vote on passage. Among the changes are the requirement of a two thirds vote to override spending caps, some revenue from auctioning off the magnetic spectrum, the publicly owned airwaves that media companies bid on to use.

S 627 Bill report and votes.

INTERIOR DEPARTMENT APPROPRIATIONS WOULD CUT AGENCY PROGRAMS

The bill, HR 2584, would spend $27.5 billion spread out among the Department of Interior, the EPA, the US Forest Service, The Indian Health Service, the Smithsonian and 18 other related agencies. The bill would spend $2,094,000,000 less than last year. Overall spending is reduced by 7% in the bill compared to last year to spend at about the same level as 2009.

HR 2584 Bill report, amendments, and votes.

BILL INCREASES VETS OPTION FOR EDUCATION

The bill, HR 1383 would increase funds for vets attending non-public institutions, allows payments to vets attending classes on line, and arrange for up to 100% tuition and expense reimbursements based on the amount of time the veteran served, when, and where.

HR 1383 Bill report, amendments, and votes.

NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD AUTHORITY CURTAILED

Under the bill the NLRB would no longer be authorized, when an workplace issue is investigated, to order an employer to restore or reinstate any work, product, production line, or equipment; to rescind any relocation, transfer, subcontracting, outsourcing, or other change regarding the location, entity, or persons who shall be engaged in production or other business operations; or
to require any employer to make an initial or additional investment at a particular plant, facility, or location.

HR 2587 Bill report and vote.

SENATE AGREES TO HOUSE FAA BILL

TheWeekInCongress.com - August 5, 2011 - By unanimous consent the Senate agreed to HR 2553, a House-passed bill extending funding and programs for the Federal Aviation Administration. (FAA)

The FAA governs most aspects of air carrier operations, airport operations and construction, and a variety of fees on tickets, baggage, fuel, and over flights.

Among the FAA responsibilities the bill addresses is the decision to provide airline subsidies to increase carrier services to distant, typically rural, airports. The program is called the Essential Air Service and subsidies are qualified if the air port is 50 miles away. The bill resets that distance at 90 miles with some consideration to less distance if the geographical challenges to getting there are significant.

This bill, combined with earlier legislation that would repeal a National Mediation Board decision to change how workers can organize to establish a union, appeared to have some political significance behind the delay of the bill along with time taken to address the debt limit legislation just passed. Previous NMB rulings viewed workers not voting to unionize as a 'No' vote. The NMB rule the bill would repeal allowed unionization if the majority of only those voting agreed to unionize.

Recent news reports reflect that the airline industry is unionized with the exception of Delta Airlines.

The Senate action on HR 2553 ends the furlough of FAA employees and various workers involved in airport construction. Also ended is the moratorium on various airport taxes borne by travelers. Reports indicate that some 70,000 workers were sent home without pay and approximately $30 million per day of revenues were lost.

HR 2553 Bill report and votes.

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Bills Establish Religious Commission; Charge IG with potential bank failure analysis; Extend term of FBI Director; And expedite oil pipeline permit.

Foreign Religious Commission

The commission would represent the US regarding religious suppression issues abroad.

HR 440

Bank Failures

The IG will look into the impact of bank failures on the banks themselves.

HR 2056

FBI Director Term Extended

The bill extends the term of the FBI Director for two years.

S 1103

Oil Pipeline

The bill is an effort to expedite approval of a Canadian pipeline in the US.

HR 1938