THE DAILY WHIP: THURSDAY, JUNE 25, 2015

**Members are advised that following last votes, the House is expected to complete general debate and begin consideration of amendments to H.R. 2822. Any Member wishing to offer an amendment, should be prepared to offer it at the appropriate place in the bill and be on the Floor at the appropriate time. Any recorded votes requested will be postponed until the July work period.

H.Res. 338 – Rule providing for Consideration of a Motion to Concur in the Senate Amendment to H.R. 1295 – Trade Preferences Extension Act of 2015 (Rep. Ryan (WI) – Ways & Means) (One Hour of Debate). The Rules Committee has recommended a Rule that provides for one hour of general debate on a motion to concur, equally divided and controlled by the Chair and Ranking Member of the Committee on Ways & Means. The Rule also waives all points of order against the motion to concur. 

Concur in the Senate Amendment to H.R. 1295 – Trade Preferences Extension Act of 2015 (Rep. Ryan (WI) – Ways & Means) (One Hour of Debate). This bill would extend four trade preference programs. It would extend the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) for ten years, and retroactively extend the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program, which provides duty free entry to most goods from developing countries, through 2017. It would also extend the Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement Act (HOPE) and the Haiti Economic Lift Program (HELP), which promote economic development and export growth in Haiti, supporting about 30,000 jobs in that country. The bill also makes several changes to antidumping and countervailing duty laws designed to level the playing field for domestic industries facing unfair foreign competition. 

The bill also includes an extension of the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program. The bill would extend TAA for six years, generally expanding the scope of the program from its current parameters to those put in place in the 2011 reauthorization. While it only provides $450 million per year for training (short of the $575 million per year provided by 2011’s extension), the Department of Labor has stated that these funding levels are sufficient. 

The bill contains the bipartisan fix to the Medicare sequester offset, replacing it with two revenue provisions: an increase in penalties for failing to file correct and timely information returns, such as 1099s, for tax purposes and a second requirement that taxpayers have Tax Identification Numbers (TINs) in order to claim certain education tax benefits in an effort to combat fraudulent claims.

Bill Text for the Senate Amendment to H.R. 1295:
PDF Version

Begin Consideration of H.R. 2822 – Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016 (Rep. Calvert – Appropriations) (One Hour of Debate). 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 yesterday, provides for one hour of general debate and makes in order any amendment offered that complies with the House Rules.  Additionally, the Rule provides for 10 minutes of debate per amendment equally divided between the proponent and an opponent and up to 10 pro forma amendments for the purpose of debate offered by the Chair and Ranking Member or their designee.

Bill Text for H.R. 2822:
PDF Version

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

Postponed Suspensions (2 bills)

1. H.R. 1615 – DHS FOIA Efficiency Act, as amended (Rep. Carter (GA) – Homeland Security)
2. H.R. 2200 – CBRN Intelligence and Information Sharing Act, as amended (Rep. McSally – Homeland Security)