THE DAILY WHIP: TUESDAY, JUNE 2, 2015

***Members are advised that close votes are possible this week, including potential votes on amendments related to Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) and Davis-Bacon to H.R. 2577 – Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016.

**Members are further advised that the GOP Leadership has announced that votes will occur after 7:00 p.m. when the House is considering Appropriations bills, therefore the House may be voting late into the evening today and tomorrow.

H.Res. 287 – Rule providing for consideration of both H.R. 2578 – Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016 (Rep. Culberson – Appropriations) and of H.R. 2577 – Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016 (Rep. Diaz-Balart – Appropriations) (One Hour of Debate). The Rules committee has recommended one Rule which provides for consideration of 2 bills.

For H.R. 2578, the Rules Committee has recommended a modified open Rule that allows any amendments that comply with House Rules to be considered. The Rule provides for one hour of general debate, equally divided between the Chair and Ranking Member of the Committee on Appropriations. The Rule allows any Member to submit an amendment that complies with the House Rules, but only provides for 10 minutes of debate per amendment equally divided and controlled between the proponent and an opponent, and does not permit unlimited pro forma amendments. Lastly, the Rule provides up to 10 pro forma amendments for the purpose of debate offered by the Chair and Ranking Member or their designee and one motion to recommit with or without instructions.

For H.R. 2577, the Rules Committee has recommended a modified open Rule that allows any amendments that comply with House Rules to be considered. The Rule provides for one hour of general debate, equally divided between the Chair and Ranking Member of the Committee on Appropriations. The Rule allows any Member to submit an amendment that complies with the House Rules, but only provides for 10 minutes of debate per amendment equally divided and controlled between the proponent and an opponent, and does not permit unlimited pro forma amendments. Lastly, the Rule provides up to 10 pro forma amendments for the purpose of debate offered by the Chair and Ranking Member or their designee and one motion to recommit with or without instructions.

The Rules Committee rejected a motion by Ms. Slaughter of New York to report open Rules for both bills, which would have allowed Members to offer unlimited pro forma amendments. Members are urged to VOTE NO.

Begin Consideration of H.R. 2578 – Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016 (Rep. Culberson – Appropriations) (One Hour of Debate). H.R. 2578 provides approximately $51.4 billion in discretionary budget authority for FY 2016, which is $1.3 billion (2.5%) above FY 2015 levels but $600 million below the President’s request. 

The bill increases funding for the National Science Foundation (funded at $7.39 billion, $50 million above FY 2015) and NASA (funded at $18.53 billion, $519 million above FY 2015) but continues the Republican attacks on climate research and social sciences by cutting NSF’s Geosciences and Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences by $257M below the FY 2015 level. The bill continues gun-related riders from past bills, and includes a new rider related to the facilitation, permitting, licensing, or promotion of exports to the Cuban military or intelligence service.

The bill cuts funding for grants to state and local law enforcement agencies by $325 million, while these governments continue to experience budget problems, and provides increases for most federal law enforcement agencies. In addition, H.R. 2758 provides $237.5 million for the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program; however this figure is deceiving as the bill shifts more than $200 million in grants, previously funded elsewhere in the bill – thus maintaining the illusion of a high COPS number. 

Republicans are developing this year's spending bills based on their budget resolution’s adherence to sequester level discretionary spending caps for FY 2016, established in the Budget Control Act of 2011. The two-year Ryan-Murray Bipartisan Budget Agreement to replace much of the sequester’s cuts to defense and non-defense funding has expired, limiting resources for the regular appropriations process to $1,016.6 billion for FY 2016, a funding increase of just 0.29%. Because this Commerce, Justice, Scienceappropriations bill includes an increase larger than 0.29%, cuts to other non-defense Appropriations subcommittees’ 302(b) allocations will be necessary without an agreement to replace the sequester. At the same time, Republicans are exempting defense from the sequester by shifting $38 billion of the President’s base defense request into the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) war funding account, relieving pressure to replace the sequester for non-defense priorities. 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.

Bill Text for H.R. 2578:
PDF Version

Background for H.R. 2578:
House Report (HTML Version)
House Report (PDF Version)

TOMORROW’S OUTLOOK
The GOP Leadership has announced the following schedule for Wednesday, June 3: The House will meet at 12:00 p.m. for legislative business.  The House is expected to continue consideration of H.R. 2578 – Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016 (Rep. Culberson – Appropriations). The House is also expected to begin consideration of H.R. 2289 – Commodity End-User Relief Act (Rep. Conaway – Agriculture) (Subject to a Rule) and may also begin consideration of H.R. 2577 – Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016 (Rep. Diaz-Balart – Appropriations).