Today on the Hill: CR to Hit Senate Floor This Week, Early Senate Recess Possible

After meeting with President Obama yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is optimistic that the chamber can move forward on a continuing resolution (CR) that funds the government through Dec. 9 and leave for the election recess as early as this Friday. Senate leaders anticipate using the Legislative Branch appropriations bill (H.R. 5325) as the lead vehicle for the CR – which will include $1.1 billion in offset-free funding to combat the Zika virus – and are aiming to set up votes on the measure beginning tomorrow. The White House has said that it wants a short-term CR free of “ideological” policy riders, which is likely given the how quickly the chamber plans to consider the measure. However, provisions to help victims of recent floods in Louisiana and an extension of the EB-5 visa program are set to be included in the stopgap spending bill. While many lawmakers in competitive races will be hoping the fast-track CR will allow them to get back to the campaign trail, Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX) is pushing for the Senate to stay an additional week to consider a possible veto override vote for legislation (S. 2040) that would change the rules for foreign sovereign immunity and allow families of Sept. 11 victims to sue the Saudi Arabian government for their citizens’ role in the attacks.  

House leaders are also hoping for a speedy resolution on a stopgap spending bill, but the package faces a more complicated path in the lower chamber as many House Freedom Caucus members prefer a resolution that will keep the government funded through early 2017. Those conservative lawmakers fear that an omnibus measure considered during the lame duck session in December will be filled with unfavorable policy riders and allow Democrats to break budget caps. Democrats, meanwhile, have vowed to block any proposal that extends beyond 2016 and are also demanding that any provisions affecting the women’s health organization Planned Parenthood be left out of a short-term spending and Zika agreement. Nonetheless, if the Senate passes a bipartisan government funding bill this week and swiftly sends its Members back to the campaign trail, the House would be positioned to pass a CR with a significant number of Democratic votes, quelling any dissonance from the Freedom Caucus.

Before moving to the CR, senators will need to complete work on the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) (S. 2848), which could be done quickly if lawmakers are able to reach an agreement on a package of amendments to be included in the legislation sometime today. The bill, which would authorize Army Corps of Engineers dredging and damming projects, is expected to include provisions to provide federal help to communities with lead-tainted water systems, such as Flint, Michigan. Passage of the bill will send the legislation to conference with the House, whose version of the legislation does not include Flint funding. Once the Senate finishes its consideration of WRDA, it can move to a cloture vote on the motion to proceed to the CR, which Leader McConnell filed yesterday.

On the House floor today, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has scheduled consideration of a bill (H.R. 3590) that would repeal the income threshold set in the 2010 Affordable Care Act (ACA) that is used to determine whether an individual is eligible for tax deductions for healthcare expenses. Currently, individual taxpayers under age 65 may only deduct medical expenses that exceed 10% of their adjusted gross income. This bill reduces that percentage to 7.5% and includes all taxpayers. Under suspension of the rules, House lawmakers are also set to vote on bills that would extend various spending authorities for the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (H.R. 5985) and reauthorize career and technical education programs (H.R. 5587).

‘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, CQ HealthBeat, and others.