THE DAILY WHIP: TUESDAY, MARCH 3, 2015

Daily Leader

For Immediate Release:

2015-03-03T00:00:00

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House Meets At:	First Vote Predicted:	Last Vote Predicted:
10:00 a.m.: Legislative Business	12:30 p.m	3:30 – 4:30 p.m.

**Members are advised that procedural votes are possible throughout the day regarding funding for the Department of Homeland Security.

The House will meet at 10:00 a.m. for legislative business and recess immediately. The House will reconvene at approximately 10:45 a.m. for the purpose of receiving, in a Joint Meeting of Congress to receive His Excellency Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel.

Following the address, the House will continue with legislative business.

H.Res. 134 – Rule providing for consideration of H.R. 749 – Passenger Rail Reform and Investment Act of 2015 (Rep. Shuster – Transportation and Infrastructure) (One Hour of Debate). The Rules committee has recommended a structured Rule that provides for one hour of general debate equally divided and controlled by the Chair and Ranking Member of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

The Rule allows 7 amendments debatable for 10 minutes equally divided between the offeror and an opponent. The Rule allows one motion to recommit, with or without instructions and it also waives all points of order against the legislation. Members are urged to VOTE YES.

H.R. 749 – Passenger Rail Reform and Investment Act of 2015 (Rep. Shuster – Transportation and Infrastructure) (One Hour of Debate). This bill reauthorizes the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) for four years, through FY 2019, and it restructures funding according to Amtrak's major lines of business in order to provide greater transparency and accountability regarding the costs and revenues of its different business lines.

It also requires Amtrak to annually develop a detailed five-year capital and operating plan and to examine the criteria it should use in determining what long-distance routes to service; requires the development of a five-year capital investment plan with affected states for Amtrak's Northeast Corridor while creating a new federal-state partnership to finance corridor improvement projects in that plan; encourages private investment, including through direct competition to Amtrak service; and streamlines the environmental reviews of rail infrastructure projects.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the measure authorizes a total of $7.2 billion over the FY 2016-20 period, including $5.3 billion for grants to Amtrak, $1.2 billion for grants to states for intercity rail projects and $625 million to renegotiate and prepay a portion of Amtrak’s nonfederal debt. Lastly, the White House issued a SAP in support of the bill.

The Rule makes in order 7 amendments, debatable for 10 minutes, equally divided between the offeror and an opponent. The amendments are:

McNerney Amendment. Ensures that socially and economically disadvantaged businesses request for proposals are considered for station development opportunities under Section 208 of the bill.
Fitzpatrick Amendment. Adds veteran-owned small businesses to the participation study required under Section 305.
Mica Amendment. A proposal for Northeast Corridor Express Service.
Brownley Amendment. Requires each state to develop a grade crossing action plan, identifying specific solutions for improving safety at crossings, including highway-rail grade crossing closures or grade separations; and focuses on crossings that have experienced recent grade crossing accidents or multiple accidents, or are at high risk for accidents.
Perlmutter Amendment. Requires the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to submit to Congress a report evaluating the effectiveness of the Federal Railroad Administration's (FRA) 2005 rule on the use of locomotive horns at rail crossings.
McClintock Amendment. Strikes all federal assistance to Amtrak.
Lipinski Amendment. Clarifies that passengers using or transporting non-motorized transportation are to be considered in the Amtrak Office of Inspector General's report on boarding procedures in Section 211.

Bill Text for H.R. 749:
PDF Version

Background for H.R. 749:
House Report (HTML Version)
House Report (PDF Version)

Consideration of legislation related to funding the Department of Homeland Security

TOMORROW’S OUTLOOK
The GOP Leadership has announced the following schedule for Wednesday, March 4: The House will meet at 12:00 p.m. The House is expected to consider H.R. 1029– EPA Science Advisory Board Reform Act of 2015 (Rep. Lucas – Science, Space, and Technology) (Subject to a Rule).

The Daily Quote
“A majority in Congress is a terrible thing to waste, but only two months into their largest majority since the 1920s Republicans are well on the way. Their latest mental breakdown is over their attempt to overturn President Obama ’s order ending deportations for some five million illegal immigrants. Once again the fight comes down to recognizing political reality, or marching off a cliff to almost certain failure. The Cliff Marchers refuse to vote to fund the Department of Homeland Security without a provision barring the enforcement of Mr. Obama’s immigration orders going back to 2012. But the House bill has failed to get the 60 votes needed to pass the Senate. That puts DHS on the cusp of a partial shutdown… The smart play now would be for Republicans to fund DHS and move on to more promising policy ground… Miracles do happen, but in every previous shutdown the voters blamed Republicans more than Mr. Obama. And if there is a terror attack, good luck explaining that Congress isn’t to blame because those DHS workers were supposed to be on the job even if they weren’t being paid… The immigration fiasco raises the larger question of whether House Republicans can even function as a majority… Mr. Boehner has made mistakes, one of which is bending too much to the shutdown caucus… Republicans need to do some soul searching about the purpose of a Congressional majority, including whether they even want it.” - Wall Street Journal Editorial, 3/1/2015

The Daily Quote

“A majority in Congress is a terrible thing to waste, but only two months into their largest majority since the 1920s Republicans are well on the way. Their latest mental breakdown is over their attempt to overturn President Obama ’s order ending deportations for some five million illegal immigrants. Once again the fight comes down to recognizing political reality, or marching off a cliff to almost certain failure. The Cliff Marchers refuse to vote to fund the Department of Homeland Security without a provision barring the enforcement of Mr. Obama’s immigration orders going back to 2012. But the House bill has failed to get the 60 votes needed to pass the Senate. That puts DHS on the cusp of a partial shutdown… The smart play now would be for Republicans to fund DHS and move on to more promising policy ground… Miracles do happen, but in every previous shutdown the voters blamed Republicans more than Mr. Obama. And if there is a terror attack, good luck explaining that Congress isn’t to blame because those DHS workers were supposed to be on the job even if they weren’t being paid… The immigration fiasco raises the larger question of whether House Republicans can even function as a majority… Mr. Boehner has made mistakes, one of which is bending too much to the shutdown caucus… Republicans need to do some soul searching about the purpose of a Congressional majority, including whether they even want it.”

- Wall Street Journal Editorial, 3/1/2015