THE DAILY WHIP: WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2016

H.Res. 822 – Rule providing for consideration of S. 304 – Conscience Protection Act of 2016 (Rep. Black – Energy and Commerce) and the Senate Amendment to the House Amendment to S. 764 – GMO Labeling Requirements (Sen. Roberts – Agricultural) (One hour of debate). The Rules Committee has recommended one Rule which would provide for consideration of two bills.

For S. 304, the Rules Committee has recommended 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 Energy and Commerce.  The Rule allows one motion to recommit, with or without instructions, and waives all points of order against the legislation.

For the Senate Amendment to the House Amendment to S. 764, the Rules Committee has recommended 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 Agriculture.  The Rule allows one motion to recommit and waives all points of order against the legislation.

The Rule also Waives clause 6(a) of rule XIII, the requirement of a two-thirds vote to consider a Rule on the same day it is reported from the Rules Committee, through the legislative day of July 14, 2016 and July 15, 2016.  Members are urged to VOTE NO.

S. 304 – Conscience Protection Act of 2016 (Rep. Black – Energy and Commerce) (One Hour of Debate).  The bill would prohibit the federal government, as well as state and local governments, from penalizing, retaliating against or otherwise discriminating against a health care provider because the provider does not provide or sponsor abortion coverage. The bill expands upon and codifies the "Weldon Amendment," which has been attached to appropriations bills since 2005.

S. 304 will further impede women's access to health care by providing federal protections to employers who deny coverage for reproductive health services. All women, regardless of where they work, should have access to comprehensive health coverage.  S. 304 would also allow health care entities the ability to refuse to facilitate or make arrangements for abortion services. Under this legislation, a physician could withold information about a medical service based on their personal religious views, regardless of whether the information would be necessary to make an informed medical decision.

S. 304 is clearly another attack on women’s reproductive health.  It is time for House Republicans to stop wasting time attempting to deny women the right to make decisions about their own health care.  Instead, the Majority should bring up legislation to provide adequate funding to address the Zika Virus, gun violence legislation such as universal background checks, and legislation to keep terrorists from purchasing guns, and to address the water crisis in Flint, Michigan.

In the Statement of Administration Policy, the President's senior advisors stated that they would recommend he veto this bill. 

H.R. 5119– No 2 H20 from Iran Act (Rep. Pompeo – Foreign Affairs) (One hour of debate). The bill would prohibit the federal government from purchasing heavy water from Iran, or to issue licenses to purchase heavy water. 

Complete Consideration of H.R. 5538 – Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017 (Rep. Calvert – Appropriations).  H.R. 5538 appropriates $32.1 billion in FY 2017 base discretionary budget authority for the Department of the Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and other agencies funded in the bill for FY 2017.  It is $1.02 billion below the President’s request and $64 million below FY 2016 levels.  H.R. 5538 does the most damage to the EPA; the agency would receive $164 million below FY 2016 levels for operating its programs.  Additionally, the bill provides no new funds to address Flint’s drinking water, and the Clean Water Revolving Loan fund is cut $349 million below FY 2016 levels.

As has been the case with appropriations bills all year, House Republicans have insisted upon including ideological, controversial policy riders to H.R. 5538 that threaten to derail the bill.  H.R. 5538 includes numerous policy riders that: (1) block the Clean Power Plan which would regulate carbon pollution from new and existing electric power plants for the first time; (2) block the EPA’s program for home lead testing; (3) block agencies from calculating the Social Cost of Carbon in rulemaking; (4) block the EPA from issuing new ground-level ozone regulations; (5) block the Department of the Interior from issuing new regulations addressing methane emissions from oil and gas extraction conducted on federal lands; (6) block endangered species protections for the gray wolf, the sage grouse, and the prairie chicken; and (7) block the Interior Department’s stream protection rule regulating the disposal of mining waste. 

Additionally, because House Republicans failed to bring a budget to the Floor to guide the appropriations process, the House Appropriations Committee is prevented from presenting an enforceable full list of funding allocations for each appropriations bill, making it difficult to compare this bill to all other appropriations bills in the context of the budget caps with any certainty.  Due to this, as well as the large number of harmful policy riders, the Administration issued a SAP, in which the President’s senior advisors stated that they would recommend he veto this bill.  Members are urged to VOTE NO.

The Rule makes in order no further general debate.  As of last night, the House completed consideration of amendments through the Newhouse Amendment (Amendment #75).  The House will continue consideration of amendments and a full list of amendments can be found HERE.  

As of last night, he following amendments have recorded votes pending:

Grijalva/Linda Sanchez Amendment #32
Polis/DeGette Amendment
Lowenthal Amendment
En Bloc #1 offered by Mr. McNerney
Grijalva/Tsongas Amendment #42
Blackburn Amendment
Boustany/Scalise Amendment
Byrne/Flores Amendment
Goodlatte Amendment
Graham/Jolly Amendment
King (IA) Amendment
Lamborn Amendment #67
Lamborn Amendment #68
Murphy (FL) Amendment
Newhouse Amendment

Bill Text for H.R. 5538:
PDF Version

Background for H.R. 5538:
House Report (HTML Version)
House Report (PDF Version)

TOMORROW’S OUTLOOK
The GOP Leadership has announced the following schedule for Thursday, July 14: The House will meet at 12:00 p.m. for legislative business. The House is expected to consider H.R. 4992 – United States Financial System Protection Act of 2016 (Rep. Royce – Financial Services).  The House is also expected to considerH.R. 5631 – To hold Iran accountable for its state sponsorship of terrorism and other threatening activities and for its human rights abuses, and for other purposes (Rep. McCarthy – Foreign Affairs).  Lastly, the House is expected to consider the Senate Amendment to the House Amendment to S. 764 – GMO Labeling Requirements (Sen. Roberts – Agriculture).  **Members are advised that the House may consider additional legislation.