THE DAILY WHIP: THURSDAY, JULY 9, 2015

**Members are advised that following last votes, the House is expected to complete general debate of H.R. 6.  Debate on the eight amendments will occur on Friday.

H.Res. 350 – Rule providing for consideration of H.R. 6 – 21st Century Cures Act (Rep. Upton – Energy and Commerce) (One Hour of Debate). The Rules committee has recommended a structured Rule that provides for one hour of general debate equally divided and controlled by the Chair and Ranking Member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce.  The Rule allows for 8 amendments, debatable for 10 minutes equally divided between the offeror and an opponent.  The Rule allows one motion to recommit, with or without instructions, and waives all points of order against the legislation. Members are urged to VOTE NO.

H.R. 2647– Resilient Federal Forests Act (Rep. Westerman – Agriculture/Natural Resources) (One Hour of Debate).  This bill modifies federal forest management practices to increase timber production on forest lands as a means of promoting greater forest health and reducing wildfires. The bill seeks to end the Forest Service's and Interior Department's "borrowing" of fire prevention funding for fire suppression efforts by providing funding to fight certain catastrophic wildfires from FEMA's disaster relief fund.

The bill also establishes five new categories of categorical exclusions (CE) under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) that could result in timber harvesting with limited environmental review.  The measure simply waives NEPA requirements in several cases, while expanding the types of forestry activities that can occur without environmental impact statements, therefore oversight on the environmental consequences of such activities.

Additionally, H.R. 2647 limits legal challenges by requiring litigants to post a bond when challenging forest restoration projects.  Plaintiffs would only get their bond back if they prevailed on all claims and they would not recover attorney’s fees even if they won as currently required by the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA).  This provision of H.R. 2647 would discourage American citizens from holding their government accountable and ensuring the Nation’s federal forests are protected.

H.R. 2647 also requires that 50 percent of Secure Rural Schools Act Title II funding be spent on timber management projects rather than stream and watershed protection or road maintenance as required under current law. Lastly, the White House has issued a SAP stating that the Administration strongly opposes H.R. 2647. 

The Rule, which was adopted yesterday, provides for one hour of general debate and makes in order 4 amendments, each debatable for 10 minutes, equally divided between the offeror and an opponent.  The amendments are:

Polis Amendment.  Strikes Section 203 of the underlying bill, the section prohibits U.S. courts from issuing restraining orders, preliminary injunctions, and injunctions pending appeals in cases involving timber harvest activities authorized by the bill.  Also strikes Title III of the underlying bill which requires litigants challenging timber harvest projects under the bill to put up a bond covering all litigation expenses of the government.
Tipton Amendment.  Requires forest stewardship contracts awarded prior to Feb 7, 2014 to be modified to include fire liability provisions.
Lujan Grisham Amendment.  Allows the Forest Service to create a pilot contracting program with Native American tribes to forest management activities.
Kilmer Amendment.  Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to develop and implement at least one landscape-scale forest restoration project that generates woody plant material that will be used to promote advanced wood products. Requires that the project be developed through a collaborative process.

Bill Text for H.R. 2647:
PDF Version

Background for H.R. 2647:
House Report (HTML Version)

Complete Consideration of H.R. 2822– Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016 (Rep. Calvert – Appropriations). H.R. 2822 provides approximately $30.17 billion in discretionary budget authority for FY 2016, which is $246 million (0.8%) below FY 2015 levels and $2.038 billion below the President’s request. 

The bill provides $7.4 billion in funding for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a cut of $750 million below the FY 2015 enacted level and $1.2 billion below the President’s request.

In addition to drastic cuts to the EPA, the bill contains numerous controversial, poison-pill environmental policy riders, including a prohibition on the implementation of the final rule to clarify federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act as well as riders prohibiting forthcoming regulations by EPA on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants (the Clean Power Plan) and any changes to the definition of “fill material” and “discharge of fill material” under the Clean Water Act.  The bill would also prohibit the use of the social costs of carbon in rulemaking related to regulating greenhouse gases. With respect to the Interior Department, the bill contains additional riders to prohibit funding to write a rule to list the sage grouse and to require the delisting of grey wolves under the Endangered Species Act, to block new rules that would protect streams from mining pollution, and to prohibit the use of funds to implement new rules on hydraulic fracking on public lands.

The result of these cuts, consistent with Republicans’ dangerous budget’s policy of maintaining sequester level spending caps,  and poison-pill riders is a bill which is not a serious attempt to fund the Department of the Interior, but, rather, is just another in a long line of Republican attacks on the EPA. By insisting on these funding levels while restricting the ability of the EPA to reduce carbon emissions and protect the environment, House Republicans are endangering our nation’s air, water and public health. For these reasons, the Administration issued a SAP stating that, should it reach his desk, the President’s advisors would recommend he veto this bill. Members are urged to VOTE NO.

The Rule, which was adopted on June 24^th, provides for no further general or amendment debate.

The following amendments have recorded votes pending: 

Rep. Zinke Amendment
Rep. Garamendi Amendment #2
Rep. Newhouse Amendment
Rep. Rouzer Amendment
Rep. Hudson Amendment
Rep. Goodlatte Amendment
Rep. Westmoreland Amendment
Rep. LaMalfa Amendment
Rep. Ellison Amendment
Rep. Buck Amendment
Rep. Grothman Amendment
Rep. Sanford Amendment
Rep. Palmer Amendment #1
Rep. Palmer Amendment #2
Rep. Calvert Amendment

Bill Text for H.R. 2822:
PDF Version

Background for H.R. 2822:
House Report (HTML Version)
House Report (PDF Version)

Begin Consideration of H.R. 6 – 21^st Century Cures Act (Rep. Upton – Energy and Commerce) (One Hour of Debate). This bill provides $8.75 billion in mandatory funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) over the next five years, which is meant to spur scientific innovation and discovery by providing an additional, supplementary funding stream to NIH.   

This bipartisan measure modifies current federal processes involving medical research, developing drugs and other treatments, and testing and approving those drugs and treatments in an effort to accelerate the development and delivery of cures to diseases and medical conditions. 

The bill directs funds towards high-risk high reward research and research performed by early stage investigators. NIH is encouraged to use the new influx of dollars to address areas of unmet medical needs, including but not limited to, biomarkers, precision medicine, infectious diseases, and antibiotics. The measure would promote the maintenance of the best biomedical workforce in the world, including increasing the diversity of the biomedical workforce. Additionally, H.R. 6 modifies the regulatory framework for medical devices and the oversight of certain technology by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The bill also would ensure system-wide accountability for the interoperability of electronic health record systems‎ to enhance communication and information sharing in the delivery of patient care.

The cost of this measure is fully offset through the sale of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, limiting federal Medicaid reimbursements to states for durable medical equipment to Medicare rates and other reforms to Medicare and Medicaid ‎drug reimbursements. CBO estimates the measure will save over $500 million in the next decade.

The Rule provides for one hour of general debate and makes in order 8 amendments, each debatable for 10 minutes, equally divided between the offeror and an opponent.  The amendments are:

Brat/McClintock/Garrett/Stutzman/Perry Amendment.  Reforms the NIH and Cures Innovation Fund to make it a discretionary spending program.
Young (IN)/Harris Amendment.  Creates authority within NIH to conduct a prize program. The intent of the program would be to incentivize health innovation by offering competitors the chance to win a prize for creating breakthrough research and technology.
Lee/Schakowsky/Clarke Amendment.  Strikes the provision that applies any policy riders included in the annual LHHS Appropriations Bill, including language related to the Hyde Amendment to NIH funds in H.R. 6. Also strikes the provision that applies any policy riders applied to the FDA in the annual Agriculture Appropriations bill to FDA funding in H.R. 6.
Castro Amendment.  Ensures underrepresented individuals, such as women and minorities, are included in the Supporting Young Emerging Scientists Report.
Slaughter Amendment.  Directs the CDC to conduct a study to determine how the additional payments are affecting the development of drug resistance.
Fitzpatrick Amendment.  Expresses a sense of Congress that recording Unique Device Identifiers at the point-of-care in electronic health record systems could significantly enhance the availability of medical device data for post-market surveillance purposes.
Polis Amendment.  Directs the Food and Drug Administration to issue a report on the risks and benefits associated with a two-tiered approval process that would permit certain medical devices to provisionally come to market if they have demonstrated safety but not efficacy.
Jackson-Lee Amendment.  Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to conduct outreach to Historically Black Colleges and Universities; Hispanic Serving Institutions; Native American Colleges; and rural Colleges to ensure that health professionals from underrepresented populations are aware of research opportunities under this Act.

Bill Text for H.R. 6:
PDF Version

Background for H.R. 6:
House Report (HTML Version)
House Report (PDF Version)

TOMORROW’S OUTLOOK
The GOP Leadership has announced the following schedule for Friday, July 10: The House will meet at 9:00 a.m. for legislative business. The House is expected to complete consideration of H.R. 6 – 21^st Century Cures (Rep. Upton – Energy and Commerce).