THE DAILY WHIP: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2015

The House will meet at 8:30 a.m. for legislative business and recess immediately. The House will reconvene at approximately 9:45 a.m. for a Joint Meeting of Congress to receive Pope Francis of the Holy See.

Members are advised to be on the House Floor and in their seats no later than 9:00 a.m. for the Joint Meeting.

Following the address, at approximately 1:00 p.m. the House is expected to reconvene and consider the bills listed for consideration under suspension of the Rules.

Suspensions (12 bills)

1. Concur in the Senate Amendment with an Amendment to H.R. 719– TSA Office of Inspection Accountability Act of 2015 (Rep. Katko – Homeland Security)
2. S. 1707– To designate the Federal building located at 617 Walnut Street in Helena, Arkansas, as the “Jacob Trieber Federal Building, United States Post Office, and United States Court House” (Sen. Boozman – Transportation and Infrastructure)
3. S. 261– To designate the United States courthouse located at 200 NW 4th Street in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, as the “William J. Holloway, Jr. United States Courthouse” (Sen. Inhofe – Transportation and Infrastructure)
4. H.R. 3116– Quarterly Financial Report Reauthorization Act (Rep. Lieu – Oversight and Government Reform)
5. S. 994– To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1 Walter Hammond Place in Waldwick, New Jersey, as the "Staff Sergeant Joseph D’Augustine Post Office Building" (Sen. Booker – Oversight and Government Reform)
6. H.R. 1442 – To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 90 Cornell Street in Kingston, New York, as the "Staff Sergeant Robert H. Dietz Post Office Building" (Rep. Gibson – Oversight and Government Reform)
7. H.R. 322– To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 16105 Swingley Ridge Road in Chesterfield, Missouri, as the “Sgt. Zachary M. Fisher Post Office” (Rep. Wagner – Oversight and Government Reform)
8. H.R. 323– To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 55 Grasso Plaza in St. Louis, Missouri, as the “Sgt. Amanda N. Pinson Post Office” (Rep. Wagner – Oversight and Government Reform)
9. H.R. 324– To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 11662 Gravois Road in St. Louis, Missouri, as the “Lt. Daniel P. Riordan Post Office” (Rep. Wagner – Oversight and Government Reform)
10. H.R. 558– To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 55 South Pioneer Boulevard in Springboro, Ohio, as the “Richard ‘Dick’ Chenault Post Office Building” (Rep. Chabot – Oversight and Government Reform)
11. H.R. 1884– To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 206 West Commercial Street in East Rochester, New York, as the “Officer Daryl R. Pierson Memorial Post Office Building” (Rep. Slaughter – Oversight and Government Reform)
12. H.R. 3059– To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 4500 SE 28th Street, Del City, Oklahoma, as the “James Robert Kalsu Post Office Building” (Rep. Russell – Oversight and Government Reform)

Begin Consideration of H.R. 348– “Regrettably Another Partisan Ideological Distraction” (RAPID) Act (Rep. Marino – Judiciary) (One Hour of Debate). This bill would amend the environmental review process under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), under the guise of streamlining the process to allow projects that are federally-funded or that require federal approval to move along more quickly.  However, what the bill actually does is strip out critical input from federal, state and local agencies and the public, jeopardizing both the environment and public safety.

The bill sets new tight deadlines for environmental review, permitting, and licensing decisions.  In cases where multiple agencies are affected, a lead agency would be required to set deadlines for other agency reviews, which must be met in 30 days.  The bill also allows private sector sponsors to prepare their own environmental assessments - creating inherent conflicts of interest that jeopardize the integrity of the decision-making process.

The bill would also greatly narrow the scope of judicial review in the NEPA process.  Civil actions would only be available to parties that participated in the environmental review public comment period and any such action would have to be filed within 180 days of the granting of a permit.

Proponents claim this bill will speed up the NEPA review process, allowing more construction projects to start and more jobs to be created. However, in reality, the bill creates a complicated one-size-fits-all stance towards the entire NEPA process, muddling requirements for all projects, not just construction – from grazing permits to the safe disposal of nuclear waste. 

In the Statement of Administration Policy, the President's senior advisors stated that they would recommend he veto this bill. With just four legislative days left before the government runs out of funding, House Republicans have chosen to bring a partisan bill to the Floor that the President will veto instead of providing certainty for the American people by funding the federal government.

The Rule makes in order 10 amendments, debatable for 10 minutes, equally divided between the offeror and an opponent.  The amendments are:

Goodlatte Manager’s Amendment. Includes revisions to clarify that the bill  is not intended to allow for duplicative agency review proceedings; duplicative project-notification and initiation-of-agency-review procedures; or, challenges to a permitting decision brought in court by parties who were not also parties to the administrative proceedings that produced the challenged decision.
Lowenthal Amendment. Prevents further evaluation or adoption of a project alternative that does not adequately address risks associated with flooding, wildfire, and climate change.
Grijalva Amendment. Prevents the environmental review and permitting decision deadlines in the bill from applying to examining the potential effects of projects on small businesses, including those that are women, veteran, and minority-owned, low-income communities and communities of color.
Gallego Amendment. Grants deadline extensions if requested by a state, a local elected official, or local tribal official.
Jackson-Lee Amendment #1. Strikes language in the underlying bill that would deem permits and licenses approved if an agency does not act on them within 90 to 120 days.
Dingell Amendment. Prevents a project permit from being deemed approved under the timeline set forth in the bill if the project would limit access to or opportunities for hunting or fishing, or impact an endangered or threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.
Peters/Polis/Lowenthal/Lieu Amendment. Strikes section k of the underlying that prohibits federal agencies from considering the "social cost of carbon" in conducting environmental reviews or in environmental decision making.
Gosar Amendment. Seeks to prohibit federal agencies from following draft guidance entitled "the Revised Draft Guidance for Federal Departments and Agencies on Consideration of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and the Effects of Climate change in NEPA Reviews", issued by the Council on Environmental Quality, 79 Fed. Reg. 77801 (Dec. 24, 2014).
Jackson-Lee Amendment #2. Clarifies that the bill’s provisions do not apply to environmental reviews or permitting or other agency decisions for projects that could be a potential terrorist attack target or that are chemical facilities or other critical infrastructure.
Johnson (GA) Amendment. Clarifies that nothing in the bill will change or limit any law or regulation that allows for public comment or participation in an agency decision making process.

**Members are advised that the House is expected to consider general debate of H.R. 348 following last votes.  The House will complete consideration of H.R. 348 tomorrow.

Bill Text for H.R. 348:
PDF Version

Background for H.R. 348:
House Report (HTML Version)
House Report (PDF Version)

TOMORROW’S OUTLOOK
The GOP Leadership has announced the following schedule for Friday, September 25: The House will meet at 9:00 a.m. for legislative business. The House is expected to complete consideration of H.R. 348 – “Regrettably Another Partisan Ideological Distraction” (RAPID) Act (Rep. Marino – Judiciary).