Today on the Hill: Chemicals, Pesticides, Fiduciary Rule, and Catfish

The House is teeing up a pair of votes on a toxic chemicals overhaul and a measure to exclude certain pesticides from permitting requirements, before spending the rest of the afternoon debating the fiscal 2017 Energy and Water Development spending bill (H.R. 5055). The rewrite of the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act (H.R. 2576) – which would expand the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) power to regulate chemicals and substances that are used to make consumer products – is the product of a compromise between versions of the bill that each chamber passed last year. The White House also strongly supports the measure, and assuming the House approves the bill, the Senate plans to clear the measure before leaving for the Memorial Day recess.

House lawmakers will then move onto a bill that would exempt pesticides previously approved for use under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) from Clean Water Act permitting requirements through Sept. 30, 2018. The measure (H.R. 897) is being brought up under a rule after failing last week to get the two-thirds vote needed to pass under the suspension of the rules. The bill would restore the previous EPA practice of not requiring permits for FIFRA-approved pesticide use, which came into question after a 2009 decision by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals imposed permitting requirements for these uses.

Later today, look for the House to open debate on a contentious $37.4 billion Energy and Water spending bill (H.R. 5055). Conservative Republicans are expected to push back against the spending levels and offer an amendment, which was scuttled in the Senate amid White House opposition, to bar the U.S. purchase of heavy water from Iran. White House officials have already said they would recommend President Barack Obama veto the bill, citing “the inclusion of problematic ideological provisions that are beyond the scope of funding legislation.” The bill also contains language backed by Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and opposed by environmentalists that deals with California’s multi-year drought.

In the Senate today, Republicans are taking aim at one of President Obama’s regulatory initiatives – the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule. Under the controversial regulations, investment companies that advise people on retirement planning are required to put their clients’ interests ahead of their own. The resolution of disapproval (H.J.Res.88) passed last month in the House by a vote of 234-183, well short of the two-thirds majority required to override a threatened presidential veto. However, the resolution will only need majority support to clear the Senate.

Senate lawmakers could also vote today on a resolution (S.J.Res.28) that seeks to nullify a 2015 Agriculture Department rule establishing a mandatory catfish inspection program. The rule, which moves catfish inspection from the Food and Drug Administration to the Agriculture Department, is opposed by foreign exporters of catfish – including Vietnam, which President Obama is visiting this week. The Obama administration has opposed the rule, which it was forced to implement as part of a 2008 farm bill. Domestic catfish producers, however, support the new inspection program.

‘Today on the Hill’ includes updates provided by the House and Senate majority leaders, as well information derived from publications including Bloomberg Government, The Hill, Morning Consult, Kaiser Health News, Modern Healthcare, Inside Health Policy, and others.