Today on the Hill: Dems to Block McConnell’s CR Due to Exclusion of Flint Aid

After a fiery presidential debate last night, the Senate convenes today for a key vote on the continuing resolution (CR) proposed by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to fund the government through Dec. 9. Democrats, including Democratic vice-presidential nominee Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), are expected to vote against the measure in an effort to increase pressure on Republicans to include assistance to help Flint, Michigan clean up its contaminated water supply. While some Senate Republicans have countered that Flint aid is included in the recently-passed Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), Democrats insist that the funding should be included in the must-pass spending bill. The minority party has also taken issue with language that would extend a rider from last year’s omnibus blocking the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from completing a rule forcing public companies to disclose their political donations.

The House will continue to clear the decks as lawmakers wait for the Senate to pass a stopgap spending bill. On tap today is legislation (H.R. 954) that would allow individuals to be temporarily exempted from the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) individual mandate penalty for not having health insurance if their Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan (co-op) coverage was terminated. The bill, which was passed unanimously out of the House Ways and Means Committee last week, will be considered under a closed rule that prevents lawmakers from offering amendments on the House floor. Three other bills are to be considered under suspension of the rules, namely:

• S. 1698 – The Treatment of Certain Payments in Eugenics Compensation Act would determine that a person’s eligibility for federal benefits won’t be affected if he or she received payments from a state eugenics program.
• H.R. 5065 – The bottles and Breastfeeding Equipment Screening Act would require the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to notify airlines and security screening personnel on guidelines for allowing baby formula, breast milk, and juice on airplanes as an exception to the TSA’s “3-1-1 Liquids Rule.”
• H.R. 5391 – The Gains in Global Nuclear Detection Architecture Act would require the Homeland Security Department’s Domestic Nuclear Detection Office to document how its research aligns with the high-level goals of a global program to improve nuclear detection architecture.

In significant news for the remainder of the week, Leader McConnell announced yesterday that the Senate would hold an override vote on the President’s veto of legislation (S. 2040) that would allow families of victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to sue the Saudi Arabian government. The White House, which opposes the bill over concerns of reciprocative action from other countries on the actions of American soldiers and diplomats, will need to convince 34 senators to oppose the override in order to protect the President’s veto. While the bill was approved on a consent vote in the Senate, some senators from both parties have had second thoughts on the bill.

‘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