THE DAILY WHIP: TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2015

H.Res. 491 – Rule providing for consideration of H.R. 1090 – Retail Investor Protection Act (Rep. Wagner – Financial Services) (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 Financial Services.  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.

The Rules Committee also rejected a motion by Mr. McGovern of Massachusetts to consider H.R. 1090 under an open Rule.  Members are urged to VOTE NO.

H.Res. 450 – Rule providing for consideration of H.R. 597 – To Reauthorize the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Rep. Fincher – Financial Services) (One hour of debate). The House has discharged from the Rules Committee 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.  In addition, the Rule self-executes an amendment in the nature of a substitute consisting of the text of H.R. 3611. H.R. 3611 would reauthorize the Export-Import Bank until September 30, 2019.  The bill is identical to the Senate’s Kirk-Heitkamp legislation that passed the Senate by a bipartisan vote of 64-29 as an amendment to the highway bill in July.  Members are urged to VOTE YES.

H.R. 597 – Export-Import Bank Reform and Reauthorization Act of 2015 (Rep. Fincher – Financial Services) (One hour of debate).  H.R. 597 would reauthorize the Export-Import Bank for four years, which would provide much needed certainty to small businesses across the country.  The Bank provides export financing that levels the playing field with foreign competitors and fills gaps left by the private sector. Since the Export-Import Bank has been shutdown, hundreds of jobs have been shipped overseas and thousands of others have been put in jeopardy.  The Export-Import Bank works with thousands of small and medium-sized businesses throughout the country; in fact, nearly 90% of Export-Import’s transactions are with small businesses.  In Fiscal Year 2014 alone, the Export-Import Bank directly supported 164,000 American jobs at over 3,300 companies – all at no cost to taxpayers.  This measure is identical to the Senate’s Kirk-Heitkamp legislation that passed the Senate by a bipartisan vote of 64-29 as an amendment to the highway bill on July 27, 2015. 

The Rule was considered yesterday, but the House will vote on adoption today. Members are urged to VOTE YES. 

H.R. 1090 – Retail Investor Protection Act (Rep. Wagner – Financial Services) (One Hour of Debate). This bill would undermine the Department of Labor’s (DOL) rulemaking process regarding retirement investment advice by prohibiting the DOL from issuing a final rule until at least sixty days after the SEC issues a rule for the standards of conduct for brokers.  This would effectively slow down the rule-making process with the hope of delaying until President Obama is no longer in office. 

The bill also does not require the SEC to issue its own rule, so delaying the Department of Labor until SEC acts could effectively prevent the Labor Department from ever issuing its rule and therefore would decrease consumer protections.

This bill would block action that would protect working and middle-class families from receiving safe and transparent financial advice that would allow them to save their hard-earned money for retirement.  The Council of Economic Advisers estimates that conflicts of interests regarding people’s retirement savings costs savers $17 billion every year.

In the Statement of Administration Policy, the President's senior advisors stated that they would recommend he veto this bill. Members are urged to VOTE NO.

The Rule provides for one hour of general debate and makes in order 1 amendment, debatable for 10 minutes, equally divided between the offeror and an opponent.  The amendment is:

Lynch Amendment. Replaces the bill's existing requirement that the Department of Labor (DOL) stop its rulemaking pending a final Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rule with a requirement that the SEC revise its own rules relating to the standards of conduct for brokers and dealers no later than 60 days after the DOL finalizes its rule and requires the SEC to coordinate with the DOL in issuing its rule.

Bill Text for H.R. 1090:
PDF Version

Background for H.R. 1090:
House Report (HTML Version)
House Report (PDF Version)

Suspension (1 bill)

1. H.R. 3819– Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2015 (Rep. Shuster – Transportation and Infrastructure)

TOMORROW’S OUTLOOK
The GOP Leadership has announced the following schedule for Wednesday, October 28: The House will meet at 12:00 p.m. for legislative business. The House is expected to consider bills listed for consideration under suspension of the Rules.  The House is also expected to consider legislation related to the Debt Limit.