THE DAILY WHIP: MONDAY, MARCH 16, 2015

Daily Leader

For Immediate Release:

2015-03-16T00:00:00

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House Meets At:	First Vote Predicted:	Last Vote Predicted:
12:00 p.m.: Morning Hour 2:00 p.m.: Legislative Business Unlimited “One Minutes”	6:30 p.m.	7:00 p.m.

**Following one minute speeches, the House is expected to recess until approximately 3:30 p.m. At that time, the House will reconvene and consider the six bills listed for consideration under suspension of the Rules. Any recorded votes requested will be postponed until 6:30 p.m.

Suspensions (6 bills)

H.R. 639– Improving Regulatory Transparency for New Medical Therapies Act, as amended (Rep. Pitts – Energy and Commerce)
H.R. 647 – Access to Life-Saving Trauma Care for All Americans Act (Rep. Burgess – Energy and Commerce)
H.R. 648 – Trauma Systems and Regionalization of Emergency Care Reauthorization Act (Rep. Burgess – Energy and Commerce)
H.R. 876 – Notice of Observation Treatment and Implication for Care Eligibility Act, as amended (Rep. Doggett – Ways and Means)
H.R. 1191 – Protecting Volunteer Firefighters and Emergency Responders Act (Rep. Barletta – Ways and Means)
H.R. 284 – Medicare DMEPOS Competitive Bidding Improvement Act of 2015, as amended (Rep. Tiberi – Ways and Means)

TOMORROW’S OUTLOOK
The GOP Leadership has announced the following schedule for Tuesday, March 17: The House will meet at 12:00 p.m. for legislative business. The House is expected to consider H.R. 1030 – Secret Science Reform Act of 2015 (Rep. Smith (TX) – Science, Space, and Technology) (Subject to a Rule).

The Daily Quote
“In their first major test of governing this year, Republicans stumbled, faltered — and nearly shut down the Department of Homeland Security. And that vote may have been the easy one. In April, physicians who treat Medicare patients face a drastic cut in pay. In May, the Highway Trust Fund runs dry. In June, the charter for the federal Export-Import Bank ceases to exist. Then in October, across-the-board spending cuts return, the government runs out of money — and the Treasury bumps up against its borrowing limit. All will require congressional action, and while many of these measures used to be pushed through in an almost unthinking bipartisan ritual, there is no such thing as simple in Congress anymore. ‘We really don’t have 218 votes to determine a bathroom break over here on our side,’ said Representative Charlie Dent, a Pennsylvania Republican. ‘So how are we going to get 218 votes on transportation, or trade, or whatever the issue? We might as well face the political reality of our circumstances and then act accordingly.’ The Republican leadership team, he added, ‘has not done a good job of managing expectations. There are too many folks with unrealistic expectations.’ Republicans emphatically regained power with the midterm election, but those victories also masked pronounced divisions within the party. That friction was on display during the fight to fund Homeland Security, with more conservative members forcing Speaker John A. Boehner into a strategy in which he had to win passage in the House with Democratic votes. Even many congressional Republicans have started to say they need an approach beyond a reflexive ‘no’ to prove their ability to function effectively as a majority. Representative Tom Cole, Republican of Oklahoma and a close ally of Mr. Boehner, said he hoped his colleagues had learned to ‘stop making the perfect the enemy of the good. You make the progress and the deals you can,’ Mr. Cole said. ‘You’re going to have to bargain, and that means the other side has to get something, and in this House, you have to understand that beating on the table and yelling doesn’t turn 54 into 60.’” - New York Times, 3/8/2015

The Daily Quote

“In their first major test of governing this year, Republicans stumbled, faltered — and nearly shut down the Department of Homeland Security. And that vote may have been the easy one. In April, physicians who treat Medicare patients face a drastic cut in pay. In May, the Highway Trust Fund runs dry. In June, the charter for the federal Export-Import Bank ceases to exist. Then in October, across-the-board spending cuts return, the government runs out of money — and the Treasury bumps up against its borrowing limit. All will require congressional action, and while many of these measures used to be pushed through in an almost unthinking bipartisan ritual, there is no such thing as simple in Congress anymore. ‘We really don’t have 218 votes to determine a bathroom break over here on our side,’ said Representative Charlie Dent, a Pennsylvania Republican. ‘So how are we going to get 218 votes on transportation, or trade, or whatever the issue? We might as well face the political reality of our circumstances and then act accordingly.’ The Republican leadership team, he added, ‘has not done a good job of managing expectations. There are too many folks with unrealistic expectations.’ Republicans emphatically regained power with the midterm election, but those victories also masked pronounced divisions within the party. That friction was on display during the fight to fund Homeland Security, with more conservative members forcing Speaker John A. Boehner into a strategy in which he had to win passage in the House with Democratic votes. Even many congressional Republicans have started to say they need an approach beyond a reflexive ‘no’ to prove their ability to function effectively as a majority. Representative Tom Cole, Republican of Oklahoma and a close ally of Mr. Boehner, said he hoped his colleagues had learned to ‘stop making the perfect the enemy of the good. You make the progress and the deals you can,’ Mr. Cole said. ‘You’re going to have to bargain, and that means the other side has to get something, and in this House, you have to understand that beating on the table and yelling doesn’t turn 54 into 60.’”

- New York Times, 3/8/2015