THE DAILY WHIP: TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2015

**Following one minute speeches, the House is expected to recess until approximately 3:00 p.m. At that time, the House will reconvene and debate the first three bills listed for consideration under suspension of the Rules. Following suspension debate the House will consider general and amendment debate of H.R. 2289. Following amendment debate, the House will consider last three bills listed for consideration under suspension of the Rules. Any recorded votes requested will be postponed until 6:30 p.m. Members are advised that there will be a second vote series this evening and that the 6:30 vote series is expected to be longer than usual.

***Members are also advised that close votes are possible today, including potential votes on amendments related to Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) and Davis-Bacon to H.R. 2577. Any expected absences should be reported to the Whip’s Office at x5-3130.

Suspensions (6 bills)

1. H.R. 2088– United States Grain Standards Act Reauthorization Act of 2015, as amended (Rep. Conaway – Agriculture)
2. H.R. 2051 – Mandatory Price Reporting Act of 2015, as amended (Rep. Conaway – Agriculture)
3. H.R. 2394– National Forest Foundation Reauthorization Act of 2015, as amended (Rep. Thompson (PA) – Agriculture)
4. H.R. 235– Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act (Rep. Goodlatte – Judiciary)
5. H.R. 889– Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity Clarification Act (Rep. Chabot – Judiciary)
6. H.Res. 295– Supporting local law enforcement agencies in their continued work to serve our communities, and supporting their use of body worn cameras to promote transparency to protect both citizens and officers alike  (Rep. Al Green – Judiciary)

H.R. 2289 – Commodity End-User Relief Act (Rep. Conaway – Agriculture) (One Hour of Debate). This bill would reauthorize the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) through 2019 and make several significant changes to the way the CFTC operates as a commission and regulates derivatives and swaps under 2010’s Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

The bill would require the CFTC to greatly increase its amount of cost-benefit analyses for new regulatory proposals. It would not only expand the number of different factors the CFTC must evaluate in any proposed rule but also change the standard of evaluation from ‘costs and benefits’ to a much more burdensome ‘reasoned determination’ of costs and benefits and require the CFTC to assess whether an action ‘maximizes net benefits’ compared to all possible regulatory alternatives. This last change could potentially force the CFTC to compare a regulation to an enormous number of alternative measures – significantly increasing the CFTC’s administrative burden and negatively impacting the agency’s capacity to regulate commodities and derivatives trading.

The bill also includes language that would make each cost-benefit analysis of every proposed CFTC rule open to lawsuit - further slowing the rulemaking process while heaping added cost on the already limited funding for the CFTC. 

The bill would also require the CFTC to develop an approach to the regulation of derivatives trading that takes place outside the U.S., weakening its authority to properly regulate such derivatives. The bill would prohibit regulation of transactions booked by foreign subsidiaries of U.S. banks, including transactions that have a direct and significant connection to the U.S. economy – in conflict with the language in Dodd-Frank.

The Rule, which was adopted on June 3rd, makes in order 5 amendments, each debatable for 10 minutes, equally divided between the offeror and an opponent. The amendments are:

Conaway Manager’s Amendment. Makes conforming and technical changes.
Gallego Amendment. Expresses a sense of Congress that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission should take all appropriate actions to encourage applications for positions in the Office of the Chief Economist from members of minority groups, women, disabled persons, and veterans.
Takai Amendment. Requires a report to the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate summarizing any plans of action and milestones for any known information security vulnerability.
Moore/Huizenga/Sean Patrick Maloney/Crawford Amendment. Narrows the scope of the provisions in the bill to ensure that only swap data, and not any other data, held by a swap data repository (SDR) is required to be shared with other regulators. It also ensures that the language in the Securities Exchange Act and the Commodity Exchange Act mirror each other.
Walorksi Amendment. Would require the CFTC, in its report to Congress on the status of applications submitted by metals exchanges, including the London Metal Exchange, to register as a foreign board of trade, to also report on the status of consultations with all U.S. market participants, including major producers and consumers. 

Bill Text for H.R. 2289:
PDF Version

Background for H.R. 2289:
House Report (HTML Version)
House Report (PDF Version)

Complete Consideration of H.R. 2577 – Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016 (Rep. Diaz-Balart – Appropriations). H.R. 2577 provides approximately $55.3 billion in discretionary budget authority for FY 2016, which is $1.5 billion (2.8%) above FY 2015 levels but $9.7 billion below the President’s request. 

Despite the increase in overall funding from FY 2015, the bill makes several severe cuts to critical transportation and infrastructure programs and investments.  It cuts Amtrak’s funding by $251 million and includes none of the $825 million requested by the President for Positive Train Control. It provides $1.9 billion in funding for the Federal Transit Administration’s Capital Investment Grant Program, a cut of $198.6 million and $1.32 billion below the President’s request.  It also cuts funding for the Federal Aviation Administration’s modernization program by $100 million.

The bill also makes several cuts to housing programs. It reduces the Public Housing Capital Fund by $194 million below the FY 2015 level, $289 million below the President’s request, bringing funding for the Capital Fund down to $1.68 billion, $96 million below the FY 2013 sequester level. It also cuts the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative by 67% and flat funds HOME grants at $900 million – maintaining a reduction in funding of nearly 30% from FY 2013 enacted levels – at the lowest level since the program began in 1992.

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 T-HUD appropriations 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, as well as a number of policy riders related to truck safety and one related the Cuba travel, 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 provides for no further 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.

The House has completed reading through all titles of the bill. The House will complete debate on amendments at the end of the bill today.

As of last Thursday, the following amendments have recorded votes pending: 

• Blackburn Amendment
• Gosar Amendment #1
• Gosar Amendment #2
• Posey Amendment #1
• Sessions Amendment #1
• Sessions Amendment #2
• Schiff Amendment
• Posey Amendment #2
• Posey Amendment #3

Bill Text for H.R. 2577:
PDF Version

Background for H.R. 2577:
House Report (HTML Version)
House Report (PDF Version)

TOMORROW’S OUTLOOK
The GOP Leadership has announced the following schedule for Wednesday, June 10: The House will meet at 12:00 p.m. for legislative business. The House is expected to considerH.R. 2393– Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) Amendments Act of 2015 (Rep. Conaway – Agriculture)(Subject to a Rule). The House is also expected to begin consideration of H.R. 2685– Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2016 (Rep. Frelinghuysen – Appropriations) (Subject to a Rule).