THE DAILY WHIP: TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2014

House Meets At:	First Vote Predicted:	Last Vote Predicted:
10:00 a.m.: Morning Hour 12:00 p.m.: Legislative Business Fifteen “One Minutes”	1:00 – 1:30 p.m.	5:00 – 6:00 p.m.

H.Res. 756 – Rule providing for consideration of H.R. 1422 – EPA Science Advisory Board Reform Act (Rep. Stewart – Science, Space, and Technology), H.R. 4012 – Secret Science Reform Act of 2014 (Rep. Schweikert – Science, Space, and Technology), H.R. 4795 – Promoting New Manufacturing Act (Rep. Scalise – Energy and Commerce)(One Hour of Debate).The Rules committee has recommended one Rule which provides for consideration of 3 bills.

For H.R. 1422, 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 Science, Space, and Technology.  The Rule allows for 1 amendment, debatable for 10 minutes equally divided between the offeror and an opponent. The Rule allows one motion to recommit, with or without instructions, and waives all points of order against the legislation.

For H.R. 4012, 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 Science, Space, and Technology.  The Rule allows for 2 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 waives all points of order against the legislation.

For H.R. 4795, 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 Energy & Commerce.  The Rule allows for 2 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 waives all points of order against the legislation. Members are urged to VOTE NO.

H.R. 1422 – EPA Science Advisory Board Reform Act (Rep. Stewart – Science, Space, and Technology) (One Hour of Debate). This bill modifies the selection requirements and operating procedures of the Science Advisory Board (SAB), which provides scientific advice to the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 

Under this bill, the EPA would be required to select members for the SAB that represent a “balanced” view of scientific issues, regardless of the legitimacy of those views – exposing the Board to potentially politically motivated beliefs not grounded in actual science. Additionally, the bill would allow up to 90% of SAB members to be private-sector scientists with direct ties to the industries – opening the door for corporations to hold powerful influence over its decisions and recommendations to the EPA.

The bill would also require a number of changes to the SAB’s operation. The Board would be required to release to the public all scientific information used in determining its advisories to EPA, indicating any and all "uncertainties" associated with the scientific advice it does provide, and it must ensure that the advice it provides to EPA reflect the views of all Board members.  It also would allow the public to file public comments on those advisories and require the Board to respond to all public comments – forcing the SAB to waste time and limited funds on burdensome administrative requirements instead of actually advising the EPA on science. These additional requirements that the bill demands of the SAB are essentially designed to keep it from getting anything accomplished, especially since the bill contains no additional resources for the board to function. 

In the Statement of Administration Policy, the President's senior advisors stated that they would recommend a veto of the bill. With only a few legislative days remaining before the end of the year, House Republicans should be addressing a number of time-sensitive issues that need to dealt with instead of wasting valuable Floor time.

The Rule makes in order 1 amendment, debatable for 10 minutes, equally divided between the offeror and an opponent.  The amendment is:

Stewart Amendment. Makes technical changes to the bill conform with recent amendments to the underlying statute. It also reiterates the independence of the Science Advisory Board.

Bill Text for H.R. 1422:
PDF Version

Background for H.R. 1422:
House Report (HTML Version)
House Report (PDF Version)

TOMORROW’S OUTLOOK
The GOP Leadership has announced the following schedule for Wednesday, November 19: The House will meet at 12:00 p.m. for legislative business. The House is expected to consider H.R. 4012 – Secret Science Reform Act of 2014 (Rep. Schweikert – Science, Space, and Technology).  The House is also expected to consider bills under suspension of the Rules.

The Daily Quote

“From addressing global crises, to streamlining our tax code, to slicing red tape and regulations that hurt our economy, to enacting policies that will move our country forward, there will be an extraordinary amount of work to do when the new Congress convenes in January. But there simply won’t be the necessary political bandwidth available to address these pressing issues if Congress is bogged down in old battles and protracted to-do lists. That is why it is critical that we pass an omnibus appropriations bill before the end of the year that will close the books on fiscal 2015, responsibly fund the government and allow the next Congress to get off to a running start.” -    Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY), Roll Call, 11/17/2014