THE DAILY WHIP: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2017

H.Res. 509 – Rule providing for consideration of the Senate Amendment to H.R. 601 – READ Act [Hurricane Supplemental, Debt Limit, Continuing Appropriations, and Flood Insurance Package] (Rep. Frelinghuysen – Appropriations) (One hour of debate). The Rules Committee has recommended a closed Rule that provides for one hour of debate on the motion equally divided between the Chair and Ranking Member of the Committee on Appropriations.

The Rule waives all points of order against consideration of the motion.

Senate Amendment to H.R. 601 – Hurricane Supplemental, Debt Limit, Continuing Appropriations, and Flood Insurance Package (Rep. Frelinghuysen – Appropriations) (One hour of debate).  This legislation provides $15.25 billion in emergency supplemental funding immediately in response to damage caused by federally declared disasters, including Hurricane Harvey and potentially Hurricane Irma.  $7.4 billion is allocated to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Disaster Relief Fund (DRF), while an addition $7.4 billion is allocated to the Community Development Block Grant programs to aid disaster recovery.  An additional $450 million will go to the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) disaster loan program to assist small businesses in recovery.

The legislation also suspends the statutory Debt Limit until December 8, 2017, at which point the Debt Limit will be reset to whatever level it is at on that day. It extends the National Flood Insurance Program and provides a Continuing Resolution that funds all federal government agencies at current FY17 levels also through December 8, 2017, thus avoiding a government shutdown at the beginning of the new Fiscal Year on October 1.

Continue Consideration of H.R. 3354 – “Make America Secure and Prosperous Appropriations Act, 2018” (Rep. Frelinghuysen – Appropriations).  Before the August district work period, the House passed a package of four regular appropriations bills for FY 2018 as part of a “security minibus.”  That package included the Defense, Legislative Branch, Military Construction-Veterans Affairs, and Energy and Water Development bills.  In addition to multiple poison pill riders, it also contained a fifth division with $1.6 billion in taxpayer funding for construction of President Trump’s border wall.

H.R. 3354 packages together the eight remaining regular appropriations bills for Fiscal Year 2018 in discrete divisions.  They are: Interior & Environment; Agriculture; Commerce, Justice, Science; Financial Services; Homeland Security; Labor, Health and Human Services, Education; State and Foreign Operations; and Transportation-Housing and Urban Development.  A summary of the eight divisions can be found here.  Upon passage, these will be coupled with the security minibus’s five divisions and sent to the Senate as one complete Omnibus Appropriations bill.

H.R. 3354 not only constitutes an inadequate investment in both the domestic and international activities of government, but also a skewed reprioritization laid out within each of its eight divisions that would have devastating impacts throughout the economy.  It is clear that House Republicans would rather waste valuable time on partisan legislation that does not stand a chance of actually being signed into law instead of working with Democrats on responsible solutions that will create jobs and grow the economy. 

Further, House Republicans are breaking their own promises of following regular order and an open legislative process by considering this package under structured rules that forego the open appropriations process, by acting on these bills before passing a budget resolution to provide topline funding guidance, and by packaging multiple unrelated issues into a single vehicle. Members are urged to VOTE NO.

The Rule provides for no further general debate.  A full list of the 224 amendments made in order in the second Rule can be found HERE. 

As of last night, the House completed debate through the Lamborn Amendment #68 of Division A (Interior).  The following amendments had recorded votes pending:

Blackburn Amendment
Palmer Amendment
Carbajal Amendment
Pearce Amendment 

**Members are advised that the House is expected to complete debate of Division A (Interior) following last votes today.