THE DAILY WHIP: TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2016

H.Res. 820 – Rule providing for consideration of H.R. 5538 – Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017 (Rep. Calvert – Appropriations) (One hour of debate).  The Rule provides for one hour of general debate and consideration of one hundred and thirty-one amendments, each debatable for 10 minutes, equally controlled by the proponent and opponent of the amendment, and provides up to 10 pro forma amendments for the purpose of debate offered by the Chair and Ranking Member or their designee.  The Rule allows one motion to recommit, with or without instructions, and waives all points of order against the legislation.

The Rule also provides the authority to offer amendments en bloc, consisting of amendments not previously considered. All en bloc amendments are debatable for 20 minutes equally divided between a proponent and opponent. 

In addition, the Rule also allows for Suspension Authority through the legislative day of July 14, 2016 to July 15, 2016. 

Lastly, the Rule provides that the Committee on Appropriations may, at any time before 5:00 p.m. on Friday, July 29, 2016, file privileged reports to accompany measures making appropriations for fiscal year ending September 30, 2017.

The Rules Committee rejected a motion by Ms. Slaughter of New York to consider H.R. 5538 under an open Rule.  The Rules Committee also rejected a motion by Mr. McGovern of Massachusetts to provide appropriate waivers for the amendment offered by Rep. Sean Maloney of New York, Rep. Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, Rep. Peters of California, and Rep. Hanna of New York which prohibits the use of funds from being used to contravene the President’s Executive Order pertaining to equal employment in Federal government contracting.  Members are urged to VOTE NO.

H.Res. 819 – Rule providing for consideration of H.R. 4992 – United States Financial System Protection Act of 2016 (Rep. Royce – Financial Services), H.R. 5119 – No 2 H20 from Iran Act (Rep. Pompeo – Foreign Affairs), and H.R. 5631 – To hold Iran accountable for its state sponsorship of terrorism and other threatening activities and for its human rights abuses, and for other purposes (Rep. McCarthy – Foreign Affairs) (One hour of debate).  The Rules Committee has recommended one Rule which would provide for consideration of three bills.

For H.R. 4992, the Rules Committee has recommended a closed Rule that provides for one hour of general debate equally divided and controlled by the Chair and Ranking Member of the Committee on Financial Services.  The Rule allows one motion to recommit, with or without instructions, and waives all points of order against the legislation.

For H.R. 5119, the Rules Committee has recommended a closed Rule that provides for one hour of general debate equally divided and controlled by the Chair and Ranking Member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs.  The Rule allows one motion to recommit, with or without instructions, and waives all points of order against the legislation.

For H.R. 5631, the Rules Committee has recommended a closed Rule that provides for one hour of general debate equally divided and controlled by the Chair and Ranking Member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs.  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 Mr. McGovern of Massachusetts to consider H.R. 4992, H.R. 5119, and H.R. 5631 under open Rules.  Members are urged to VOTE NO.

Begin Consideration of H.R. 5538 – Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017 (Rep. Calvert – Appropriations) (One hour of debate).  H.R. 5538 appropriates $32.1 billion in FY 2017 base discretionary budget authority for the Department of the Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and other agencies funded in the bill for FY 2017.  It is $1.02 billion below the President’s request and $64 million below FY 2016 levels.  H.R. 5538 does the most damage to the EPA; the agency would receive $164 million below FY 2016 levels for operating its programs.  Additionally, the bill provides no new funds to address Flint’s drinking water, and the Clean Water Revolving Loan fund is cut $349 million below FY 2016 levels.

As has been the case with appropriations bills all year, House Republicans have insisted upon including ideological, controversial policy riders to H.R. 5538 that threaten to derail the bill.  H.R. 5538 includes numerous policy riders that: (1) block the Clean Power Plan which would regulate carbon pollution from new and existing electric power plants for the first time; (2) block the EPA’s program for home lead testing; (3) block agencies from calculating the Social Cost of Carbon in rulemaking; (4) block the EPA from issuing new ground-level ozone regulations; (5) block the Department of the Interior from issuing new regulations addressing methane emissions from oil and gas extraction conducted on federal lands; (6) block endangered species protections for the gray wolf, the sage grouse, and the prairie chicken; and (7) block the Interior Department’s stream protection rule regulating the disposal of mining waste. 

Additionally, because House Republicans failed to bring a budget to the Floor to guide the appropriations process, the House Appropriations Committee is prevented from presenting an enforceable full list of funding allocations for each appropriations bill, making it difficult to compare this bill to all other appropriations bills in the context of the budget caps with any certainty.  Due to this, as well as the large number of harmful policy riders, the Administration issued a SAP, in which the President’s senior advisors stated that they would recommend he veto this bill.  Members are urged to VOTE NO.

Bill Text for H.R. 5538:
PDF Version

Background for H.R. 5538:
House Report (HTML Version)
House Report (PDF Version)

Suspensions (2 bills)

1. H.R. 5658 – TALENT Act (Rep. McCarthy – Oversight and Government Reform)
2. H.R. 5421 – National Securities Exchange Regulatory Parity Act of 2016, as amended (Rep. Royce – Financial Services)

Complete Consideration of H.R. 4768 – Separation of Powers Restoration Act of 2016 (Rep. Ratcliffe – Judiciary).  The bill would overturn Supreme Court precedent that would require courts to give substantial deference to an Agency’s interpretation of the law and regulations.  H.R. 4768 would essentially abolish decades of precedent which would severely impair the ability of agencies to safeguard public health and safety, and would delay judicial review of regulatory actions.  Without any constraints on judicial review, the bill would incentivize judicial activism by allowing a reviewing court to substitute its policy preferences for those of the agency, which Congress has specifically entrusted with rulemaking authority.

The Coalition for Sensible Safeguards, an alliance of more than 150 consumer, labor, research, faith based, and other public interest groups strongly oppose the legislation, as it would weaken the regulatory system.  The full letter can be found here.

In the Statement of Administration Policy, the President's senior advisors stated that they would recommend he veto this bill.

The House has completed all debate on H.R. 4768.  The following amendments have recorded votes pending:

Johnson(GA)/Conyers Amendment #1
Meeks Amendment
Johnson (GA) Amendment #4
Johnson (GA)/Cicilline Amendment #5

TOMORROW’S OUTLOOK
The GOP Leadership has announced the following schedule for Wednesday, July 13: The House will meet at 12:00 p.m. for legislative business. The House is expected to consider S. 304 – Conscience Protection Act of 2016 (Rep. Black – Energy and Commerce) (Subject to a Rule).  The House is also expected to consider H.R. 5119 – No 2 H20 from Iran Act (Rep. Pompeo – Foreign Affairs).  Lastly, the House is expected to complete consideration of H.R. 5538 – Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017 (Rep. Calvert – Appropriations).