THE DAILY WHIP: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

The House will meet at 9:00 a.m. for legislative business and recess immediately. The House will reconvene at approximately 10:00 a.m. for the purpose of receiving, in a Joint Meeting with the Senate, the Honorable Petro Poroshenko, President of Ukraine.

H.Res. 727 – Rule Providing for Consideration of both H.R. 2 – American Energy Solutions for Lower Costs and More American Jobs Act (Rep. Terry – Natural Resources/Energy and Commerce) and H.R. 4 – Jobs for America Act (Rep. Camp – Ways and Means) (One Hour of Debate). The Rules committee has recommended one Rule which provides for of two bills.

For H.R. 2, the Rules Committee has recommended a closed Rule that provides for two hours of general debate equally divided between the Chair and Ranking Member of the Committee on Natural Resources. The Rule allows one motion to recommit, with or without instructions, and waives all points of order against the legislation.

For H.R. 4, the Rules Committee has recommended a closed Rule that provides for two hours of general debate equally divided between the Chair and Ranking Member of the Committee on Ways & Means. The Rule allows one motion to recommit, with or without instructions, and waives all points of order against the legislation.

The Rules Committee rejected a motion by Ms. Slaughter of New York to consider both bills under an open Rule.  The Committee also rejected motions to make in order a number of Democratic amendments. Members are urged to VOTE NO.

H.R. 2 – American Energy Solutions for Lower Costs and More American Jobs Act (Rep. Terry – Natural Resources/Energy and Commerce) (Two Hours of Debate). This bill is a combination of 13 Republican bills that have already passed the House this Congress. Contrary to its title, this bill is not a serious attempt to address fuel costs or create jobs.  Instead, it is a messaging document that rehashes partisan ideas that have no chance of becoming law in an attempt to hide House Republicans’ lack of an actual agenda leading up to the November elections.

The bill contains a number of controversial policies. The bill would declare that a presidential permit is not required for TransCanada’s revised proposal for the Keystone XL pipeline — which would allow construction of the pipeline across the U.S.- Canadian border to proceed. Further, it would eliminate the current requirement that proposed oil and natural gas pipelines and electric transmission line projects that cross the U.S. border with Mexico or Canada obtain a Presidential permit and create a new approval process that requires only the cross-border segment of a project to be subject to a National Environment Policy Act (NEPA) review. It would also require the Secretary of State (for oil and gas pipelines) and the Secretary of Energy (for electric transmission lines) to approve a project unless the narrow segment that crosses the border is deemed “not in the public interest of the United States.” Additionally, the bill would open huge new portions of our coastlines to offshore drilling, and ignore other important uses of public lands, including conservation and recreation.

The bill would severely limit the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants under the Clean Air Act. It would also prohibit the EPA from finalizing regulations estimated to cost more than $1 billion if the Energy Department determines that the regulations will cause significant adverse effects to the economy.  This would effectively prevent EPA from finalizing any regulations and would give the Energy Department a veto over EPA's air and water pollution rules or any other rule interpreted to be "energy-related." The measure could also indefinitely delay EPA energy-related rules because there are no deadlines for EPA to submit its report or for the Energy Department to complete its study.

The bill would also block the Department of the Interior from issuing rules to protect streams from the impact of mountaintop removal coal mining and force states to adopt a Bush Administration rule vacated by the courts – while also prohibiting the federal government from establishing baseline standards for the safe conduct of hydraulic fracturing on public lands.

At a time when our nation is facing serious challenges that require Congress to act, it is irresponsible of House Republicans to focus on partisan messaging at the expense of making real progress.  Democrats are ready to tackle the pressing issues facing our nation and we hope the Republican Majority will abandon these partisan gimmicks and instead work with us to address critical legislation before the House adjourns for another long district work period.  

Bill Text for H.R. 2:
PDF Version

TOMORROW’S OUTLOOK
The GOP Leadership has announced the following schedule for Friday, September 19: The House will meet at 9:00 a.m. for legislative business. The House is expected to consider H.R. 4– Jobs for America Act (Rep. Camp – Ways and Means).