THE DAILY WHIP: WEDNESDAY, JULY 15, 2015

Daily Leader

For Immediate Release:

2015-07-15T00:00:00

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House Meets At:	First Vote Predicted:	Last Vote Predicted:
10:00 a.m.: Morning Hour 12:00 p.m.: Legislative Business Fifteen “One Minutes”	1:30 – 2:00 p.m.	3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

H.Res. 362 – Rule providing for consideration of both H.R. 2898 – Western Water and American Food Security Act of 2015 (Rep. Valadao – Natural Resources/Agriculture) and H.R. 3038 – Highway and Transportation Funding Act of 2015 (Transportation and Infrastructure/Ways and Means) (One hour of debate). The Rules Committee has recommended one Rule which would provide for consideration of two bills.

For H.R. 2898, 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 Natural Resources. The Rule allows for 8 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. 3038, the Rules Committee has recommended a closed Rule that provides for one hour of general debate, with 30 minutes equally divided and controlled by the Chair and Ranking Member of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and 30 minutes equally divided and controlled by the Chair and Ranking Member of the Committee on Ways and Means. The Rule allows one motion to recommit, and waives all points of order against the legislation.

The Rules Committee rejected a motion by Ms. Slaughter of New York to consider both H.R. 2898 and H.R. 3038 under open Rules. Members are urged to VOTE NO.

H.R. 3038 – Highway and Transportation Funding Act of 2015 (Rep. Ryan (WI) – Transportation and Infrastructure/Ways and Means) (One hour of debate). This bill would reauthorize federal-aid highway and transit programs through December 18, 2015, which would cost approximately $8 billion.

Currently, the Highway Trust Fund is set to expire on July 31, and inaction on transportation funding would halt highway construction projects during their busiest season of the year.

The extension is paid for with $8 billion in offsets over ten years. $3.16 billion comes through extending the current treatment of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) fee collections as mandatory savings for two additional years (FY2024 and FY2025). If no action is taken, these TSA fees will be subject to appropriations action, and therefore scored as discretionary, beginning in FY2024. Additionally, H.R. 3038 cuts excise fuel taxes on liquefied natural gas (LNG) and liquid propane used as highway motor fuels. The bill taxes LNG and propane on an energy-equivalent basis relative to diesel and gasoline, which would lower the taxes paid by these fuels by about $90 million. Lastly, H.R. 3038 includes approximately $5 billion in tax changes to improve compliance, including additional information reporting requirements for mortgages and estates, changes to other information return due dates, clarifying an IRS collection authority, and allowing excess pension funds to be used for retiree health care.

Unless Congress acts, the Department of Transportation (DOT) will be unable to reimburse states for surface transportation projects as early as August 1st and will be unable to fund new obligations to repair America’s crumbling roads and fix our Nation’s vast infrastructure problems.

H.R. 3038 is not the long-term solution America deserves. It is being brought to the Floor to prevent a Republican shutdown of the Nation’s federal highway and transit programs. H.R. 3038 is another example of House Republicans kicking the can down the road and failing to develop a long-term solution to create a solvent Highway Trust Fund that supports hundreds of thousands of American jobs.

Bill Text for H.R. 3038:
PDF Version

Suspensions (2 bills)

S. 984– Steve Gleason Act of 2015 (Sen. Vitter – Ways and Means)
S. 971– Medicare Independence at Home Medical Practice Demonstration Improvement Act of 2015 (Sen. Wyden – Ways and Means)

TOMORROW’S OUTLOOK
The GOP Leadership has announced the following schedule for Thursday, July 16: The House will meet at 9:00 a.m. for legislative business. The House is expected to consider H.R. 2898 – Western Water and American Food Security Act (Rep. Valadao – Natural Resources/Agriculture).

The Daily Quote
“[House Speaker John] Boehner reportedly told Republicans during their weekly closed-door meeting there was a hold on all spending bills until they could figure something out on the Confederate flag. Republicans are looking to avoid another floor situation like the one that occurred on July 9, when Democrats forced votes on the Confederate flag. The Democrats’ action came after… Republican efforts to roll back restrictions on the display and sale of the Confederate symbols in federal cemeteries… Republicans delayed consideration of the Financial Services appropriations bill for this week, and they pulled the Interior-Environment spending bill in an attempt to avoid a politically divisive vote on a Confederate flag amendment. But a complete hold on appropriations bills at this point in July — only two weeks away from the August recess — could mean that the appropriations season is officially over… With six appropriations bills through the House chamber, and exactly zero through the Senate, leaders could finally be looking at the prospect of a large spending deal to keep the government open.” - Roll Call, 7/14/2015

The Daily Quote

“[House Speaker John] Boehner reportedly told Republicans during their weekly closed-door meeting there was a hold on all spending bills until they could figure something out on the Confederate flag. Republicans are looking to avoid another floor situation like the one that occurred on July 9, when Democrats forced votes on the Confederate flag. The Democrats’ action came after… Republican efforts to roll back restrictions on the display and sale of the Confederate symbols in federal cemeteries… Republicans delayed consideration of the Financial Services appropriations bill for this week, and they pulled the Interior-Environment spending bill in an attempt to avoid a politically divisive vote on a Confederate flag amendment. But a complete hold on appropriations bills at this point in July — only two weeks away from the August recess — could mean that the appropriations season is officially over… With six appropriations bills through the House chamber, and exactly zero through the Senate, leaders could finally be looking at the prospect of a large spending deal to keep the government open.”

- Roll Call, 7/14/2015