Update from Washington, D.C. 05/25/2012
The House of Representatives was on recess the week of May 21st
and is set to return after the upcoming Memorial Day holiday. The
Senate, on the other hand, was in session this week and will be
out all of the following week.
Before departing the nation’s capital, House appropriators were
able to advance several fiscal year 2013 spending bills at the
committee level, including measures that would fund the
Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense,
Military-Veterans, and State-Foreign Operations. For its part,
the Senate Appropriations Committee also approved its Homeland
Security and Military-Veterans measures. Despite a flurry of
activity in the last two weeks, Congress is unlikely to clear
many, or perhaps any, stand-alone appropriations bills this year,
and will likely have to resort to combining several bills into an
omnibus measure.
In other developments, the House and Senate approved legislation
(HR 2072) that would reauthorize and increase funds for the
Export-Import Bank. The Bank, which provides direct loans, credit
financing, and loan guarantees to back the purchase of U.S.-made
goods and services overseas, came under attack this year from
conservatives who argued that it was a form of corporate welfare.
Nonetheless, the legislation was overwhelmingly approved by both
chambers and has been presented to President Obama.
The Senate also considered legislation (S 3187) this week that
would reauthorize the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA)
authority to collect user fees from the pharmaceutical and
medical device industries. The bill is relatively
noncontroversial, but efforts to advance the measure were stymied
by lawmakers looking to offer contentious amendments and attach
unrelated policy riders to the underlying legislation. Senate
leaders were able to strike a deal, however, on a defined list of
amendments that would receive floor consideration. The final
agreement also involved cutting deals to separately consider
measures to reauthorize the National Flood Insurance Program
(NFIP) and to maintain the interest rate for federal student
loans (S 2343).
Notably, the current NFIP extension (PL 112-74) expires on May
31, so lawmakers are expected to move another stopgap measure in
short order. The Senate on Thursday voted to extend the program
for 60 days, while the House last week approved a one-month
extension. The two chambers will have to decide on a common
approach before the insurance provider’s charter expires.
On the transportation front, negotiators have just completed
their third week of deliberations on a final reauthorization
package. With the House and Senate on separate schedules,
conferees are counting on their staffs to wade through the
noncontroversial titles of the bill. Overall, congressional
leaders are pleased with the progress made to this point and, for
the most part, are optimistic that the committee will be able to
produce a conference report before the current stopgap measure
expires on June 30.
The administration recently weighed in on the discussions,
sending a letter to the conference committee outlining its
positions on various issues. Notably, the letter restates an
earlier White House veto threat should the final package include
the House-passed provisions on the Keystone XL Pipeline. The
letter further expresses strong disapproval with some of the
streamlining provisions included in the House-passed bill,
including provisions that would mandate a strict deadline for
completion of environmental and judicial reviews.
Levee Vegetation
In other news, Representative Doris Matsui (D-CA) introduced
legislation (HR 5831) on May 18th that would require the
Secretary of the Army to undertake a comprehensive review of the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (Corps) policy guidelines on
vegetation management for levees. The bipartisan bill, entitled
the Levee Vegetation Review Act, is cosponsored by 30 members of
the California congressional delegation.
The Corps’ levee vegetation policy requires local agencies to
remove woody vegetation from their levee systems. Ostensibly, the
policy – which the Corps began enforcing more rigorously in the
wake of Hurricane Katrina – is intended to reduce any potential
weakening of or damage to levees from root growth and overturned
trees. Although the Corps does have a “variance” process that
allows levee sponsors to request that vegetation remain on
levees, California’s local flood agencies have determined that
the procedure is unworkable and does not provide sufficient
flexibility. Furthermore, according to recent estimates, the
per-levee-mile cost to apply for a variance is a significant
financial hurdle for local agencies.
Under HR 5831, the secretary would be required to take into
account several key factors when undertaking the policy review
process, including the varied interests and responsibilities in
managing flood risks, such as the need to provide the greatest
safety benefit with limited resources. The bill also would
require the secretary to consider factors that promote and allow
for variances from the national guidelines on a regional or
watershed basis.
Additionally, and among other things, the legislation would
require the secretary to solicit and consider the views of the
National Academy of Engineering as part of the comprehensive
review process. Notably, the Corps’ own Engineer Research and
Development Center recently completed an initial research effort
on the effects of woody vegetation on levees which indicated that
minimal data exists on the scientific relationship between woody
vegetation and levees.
SCAAP
Finally, earlier this week, the Bureau of Justice Assistance
(BJA) announced the opening of the fiscal year 2012 application
process for the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP).
Jurisdictions must submit their funding applications by July 6,
2012.
Since 1996, BJA has provided partial reimbursement to states and
counties for the costs of incarcerating undocumented criminal
offenders. Under agency protocols, jurisdictions have received
variable reimbursement for those inmates whose statuses are both
“known” and “unknown” to the Department of Homeland Security
(DHS).
It should be noted that BJA announced that beginning with this
funding cycle it will be discontinuing payments for those inmates
who are classified as “unknown.” According to BJA, the previous
practice was a recognition that some of the “unknown” inmates
could have been undocumented if they had entered the United
States illegally and never came into contact with DHS. In
justifying its reimbursement criteria change, BJA has indicated
that the new practice will make better use of limited SCAAP
funding and will ensure that jurisdictions are reimbursed only
for known undocumented criminals.
At this point, it is unclear how the change will impact each
state and individual jurisdiction. However, it is believed that
California’s counties will generally be heavily impacted by the
new reimbursement criteria.