Federal Issues Update
Congress Considers Keystone Pipeline and Immigration-related Legislation; Up Next Week, President Obama’s Fiscal Year 2016 Budget Proposal
After a nearly month-long debate, the Senate on January 29
approved legislation (S 1) that would authorize construction of
the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline. Nine Democrats joined with
Republicans to approve the $8 billion project authorization bill.
The House, for its part, advanced a similar measure (HR 3)
earlier this month; however, it is unclear whether the lower
chamber will simply approve S 1, or if there will be a formal
conference committee to reconcile differences between the two
bills. Regardless of the endgame strategy, Republican leaders
still lack the votes to override an expected veto from President
Obama.
Looking ahead, the upper chamber is expected to soon begin
consideration of a House-passed spending bill (HR 240) to fund
the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for the remainder of
fiscal year 2015. The legislation would provide $39.7 billion in
discretionary spending for the Department, up $400 million from
last year. However, it also includes language that would roll
back the president’s recent Executive Order on immigration, as
well as other executive actions stretching as far back as
2011.
Senate Democrats, united in their opposition to the measure, have
called on GOP leaders to strip out the immigration language and
instead move forward with a “clean” funding bill. It should be
noted that President Obama has threatened to veto any bill that
aims to roll back his immigration actions. With funding for DHS
set to expire on February 27, the Senate is likely to strip the
bill of the aforementioned provisions, rather than risk a partial
government shutdown.
In other immigration-related developments, House leaders this
week delayed consideration of a much-anticipated border security
bill (HR 399). The legislation, sponsored by Homeland Security
Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX), would provide $10
billion in new spending for drones, surveillance systems, radar,
fencing and other technologies to be utilized along the southern
border. It also would require DHS to achieve “operational
control” of the border within five years, a standard that federal
officials and House Democrats believe is unrealistic.
At this point, the outlook for the border security bill remains
uncertain, as a number of conservatives have openly expressed
their dissatisfaction with the legislation. Some on the right
have argued that the bill does not adequately address the
presence of undocumented immigrants who are already living in the
United States. Others, meanwhile, are concerned that the Senate
might drop the effort to block the president’s executive action
in the DHS spending bill and replace it with components of HR
399.
On the transportation reauthorization front, the Senate
Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee held a hearing on
January 28 entitled The Importance of MAP-21 Reauthorization:
Federal and State Perspectives. The hearing was an opportunity
for members of the committee to examine the need for federal
transportation infrastructure investments and the importance of
passing a long-term MAP-21 reauthorization. The hearing also
addressed the threat that businesses, states, and workers face
due to the impending insolvency of the Highway Trust Fund.
The committee received testimony from the following witnesses:
Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, as well as
Governors Robert Bentley (R-AL), Dannel Malloy (D-CT), Peter
Shumlin (D-VT), and Dennis Daugaard (R-SD).
In other transportation-related developments, Senators Barbara
Boxer (D-CA) and Rand Paul (R-KY) announced this week that they
will be introducing legislation that would pay for a new
long-term highway and transit bill by cutting the tax rate for
repatriated earnings. The proposal to use repatriated funds to
raise revenue to pay for infrastructure spending appears to be
gaining some level of momentum on Capitol Hill and within the
Obama administration.
At the same time, it is unclear how the House and Senate
committees with jurisdiction over the Highway Trust Fund will
choose to finance a new transportation bill. While many key
lawmakers have ruled out a gas-tax increase, there are a number
of other infrastructure financing options on the table.
Finally, President Obama is set to release his fiscal year 2016
budget proposal to Congress on Monday, February 2. This will be
the first time since 2010 that the administration will be
releasing a budget by the statutory deadline.
While complete details on the budget will not be known until next
week, the administration’s proposal will request $74 billion – or
roughly seven percent – above the discretionary spending caps set
by the Budget Control Act of 2011 (PL 111-25). According to White
House officials, the additional funding would be split evenly
between defense and nondefense discretionary spending. While the
proposal is not expected to be well received by congressional
Republicans, the administration’s blueprint will be the starting
point for discussions on the fiscal year 2016 appropriations
process.