Federal Issues 10/21/2011
In a rare show of bipartisan unity, Congress overwhelmingly
approved trade agreements with Panama, Columbia, and South Korea
the week of October 10th. The cooperation was short-lived,
however, as lawmakers turned their attention to the fiscal 2012
budget cycle, which has been marred by acrimony and delay. Thus
far, the House has only completed work on six of its 12
appropriations bills, while the Senate has passed only one.
Although the new fiscal year began on October 1, a continuing
resolution (CR) is currently funding the government through
November 18, thus giving lawmakers more time to complete their
work on the budget. With less than a month to go before the
government runs out of spending authority, Congress may have to
rely on a second CR, especially with the House on recess this
week.
Meanwhile, appropriators will try to clear several smaller
packages of spending bills rather than relying on a single
catch-all omnibus bill to wrap up fiscal 2012 spending. The first
“minibus” was considered in the Senate this week. The package (HR
2112) combines spending for Agriculture, Commerce-Justice-Science
(S 1572), and Transportation-HUD (S 1596).
Despite relatively broad bipartisan support for the measure, the
Senate struggled to work through amendments to the $128 billion
minibus. With the upper chamber scheduled to be out next week, an
agreement was reached late Thursday that would set up a November
1 vote on final passage of the legislation. It is likely that
lawmakers will attach a new stopgap spending measure to the
minibus that would keep the government funded into mid to
late-December.
In other developments, members of the deficit reduction committee
are continuing their work to craft a proposal that identifies at
least $1.2 trillion in long-term deficit reduction. The so-called
“supercommittee,” which has until November 23 to provide its
recommendations to Congress, recently received input from
congressional committees regarding proposals on ways to reduce
the deficit.
Despite numerous meetings of the supercommittee, the bicameral
panel is reportedly struggling to find a way past the partisan
divide over new tax revenue. For their part, Republican lawmakers
remain opposed to raising taxes, while Democrats have insisted
that increased tax revenue is a necessary part of a balanced
solution. Recently, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) began
encouraging fellow Republicans to support the proposal that comes
out of the supercommittee, arguing that anything would be better
than the steep cuts to defense programs that would take place
under the sequestration process. Perhaps complicating matters,
most of the supercommittee’s deliberations have occurred behind
closed doors, prompting concern among many lawmakers that the
panel has not made any progress.
In other news, President Obama recently hit the road to promote
his wide ranging jobs proposal, entitled the American Jobs Act of
2011. Despite the president’s please for swift congressional
passage, the Senate on October 11 moved to block consideration of
the bill (S 1660), which includes, among other provisions, an
extension of unemployment insurance benefits, investment for
infrastructure improvement programs, and other stimulus-style
spending.
On October 20, the Senate voted to reject a stand-alone component
(S 1723) of the president’s job’s plan, which would provide funds
for employing teachers and first-responders; the cost of the
measure would be offset by a 0.5 percent surtax on millionaires.
Specifically, the measure would provide $30 billion for teachers
in grants to local school districts and $5 billion for
first-responders through competitive grants to state and local
governments. The White House has estimated that the Teachers and
First Responders Back to Work Act of 2011 would support almost
400,000 education jobs for one year.
In other news, the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs (IA) held a
hearing on October 13 entitled “Carcieri Crisis: the Ripple
Effect on Jobs, Economic Development and Public Safety in Indian
Country.” The Department of Interior’s Assistant Secretary of
Indian Affairs, Larry Echo Hawk, urged the committee to ensure
passage of legislation that would reverse the Supreme Court’s
Carcieri v. Salazar ruling which denied the secretary the
authority to take land into trust for tribes not under federal
jurisdiction as of June 18, 1934, the date of passage of the
Indian Reorganization Act.
IA Committee Chairman Daniel Akaka (D-HI) stated that the
Carcieri ruling would cause an “increase in litigation in Indian
country, make it more difficult for tribes to develop economic
opportunities to benefit their members and surrounding
communities and create confusion regarding pubic jurisdiction.”
Akaka has been a strong proponent of overturning the Carcieri v.
Salazar decision.
It should be noted that the Senate IA Committee approved earlier
this year two separate pieces of legislation (S 676 and S 703)
that would restore the secretary of Interior’s authority to take
land into trust for all Indian tribes. The bills remain stalled,
however, due to opposition from key senators, including Senator
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), who object to the fact that the
legislation do not include broader reforms.
On the transportation front, leaders of the Senate Environment
and Public Works (EPW) Committee chaired by Senator Barbara Boxer
(D-CA) announced plans to mark up legislation that would
reauthorize expiring surface transportation programs. The
committee is scheduled to consider the measure, which it calls
Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century, or simply MAP-21,
on November 9. No draft legislative language has been made
available, however an outline of the proposal was released
earlier this year.
While this markup represents an important initial step in the
reauthorization process, the Senate Finance Committee must still
identify the additional revenue needed to support the two-year
package. The proposal is expected to cost $109 billion, which is
$12 billion more than the Highway Trust Fund can sustain.
Across Capitol Hill, discussions in the House are ongoing, though
no announcement has been made on potential committee
consideration. Chairman of the House Transportation and
Infrastructure Committee John Mica (R-FL) recently indicated that
would seek an additional $15 billion annually for his proposal,
bringing the House funding level more in line with the Senate
measure.
For their part, House Republican leaders are contemplating a
proposal from Representative Steve Stivers (R-OH) that would use
money raised through the sale of bonds linked to expanded
offshore oil and gas drilling to replenish the Highway Trust
Fund. The measure is estimated to bring in $10 billion to $15
billion annually but is certain to face stiff opposition from the
Obama administration and Democrats.