Capitol Hill Update, 8 September, 2104

Capitol Hill Update, 8 September, 2014

House & Senate/Schedule: Both chambers are back from their 5-week summer recess, and both will remain in session at least until September 19th. However, the need to pass a Continuing Resolution to fund the government means that there is a strong possibility that Congress could remain in session longer if negotiations become difficult.

Legislative Highlight of the Week: During this session of Congress, all eyes will be on the Continuing Resolution to fund the federal government. The previous funding bill expires on September 31st. There are a multitude of possibilities for how the CR may turn out, but perhaps the likeliest is that a short-term compromise will be reached to fund the government through mid-December. This would set up a “lame duck” session of Congress, when Members feel less accountable because they have just survived reelection (or not).

House & Senate/Corporate Welfare: Another program that is set to expire at the end of September is the United States Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im). You can read about why Ex-Im is an unnecessary program that should be allowed to expire HERE, and you can find FreedomWorks’ Top Ten Reasons to End Ex-Im HERE.

Senator Reid has indicated that he may attach a reauthorization of the Ex-Im bank to the Continuing Resolution and send it back to the House. FreedomWorks will Key Vote against any attempt to reauthorize Ex-Im.

Senate/First Amendment: On Monday, Majority Leader Reid will hold a procedural vote on a constitutional amendment that would severely damage Americans’ First Amendment rights to free political speech. The extremely open-ended amendment would allow the government to deem practically any speech that could be construed as political – be it a book, a movie, or a billboard – to be an in-kind donation, and therefore subject to regulation. Fortunately, the amendment has zero chance of actually passing even the Senate. You can read more about this amendment, and the Democrats who have co-sponsored it, HERE.

Senate/Election Messaging: The Senate, like the House, is likely to force votes on a number of measures as messaging points leading into the November elections. These could include:

• Minimum Wage – the Senate has long threatened to vote on increasing the minimum wage, and indexing automatic increases in the wage to inflation. FreedomWorks would oppose such a measure, as the minimum wage demonstrably harms the economy and actually makes it more difficult for young and unskilled workers to enter the workforce and gain needed work experience.

• Student Loans – The Senate may once again bring up Senator Warren’s bill to allow students to refinance their existing loans into a government loan that would charge a much lower interest rate. This would effectively finalize the already nearly completed government takeover of the student loan industry, which has long ceased to be a free market in any case.

• Paycheck Fairness – The Senate may also once again vote on a bill to supposedly grant “fair pay” to women in the workforce. This measure would encourage a great deal of litigiousness while solving a largely non-existent problem. In most industries and fields, studies of men and women in comparable positions of longevity and experience show that women tend to earn the same, or even slightly more than, men.

House/EPA: This week the House will vote on a bill that would stop the EPA from releasing a proposed regulation that would give them a ridiculous level of control over practically any body of water, by extending the definition of “Waters of the United States” to include “all tributaries of streams, lakes, ponds and impoundments”. This proposed regulation would make it even easier for the government to restrict what property owners can do with their own land, even if the water source in question is a pond they built themselves. FreedomWorks supports this bill.

House/Health Care: The House will vote on a bill that would allow group health insurance plans to continue to be sold even if they don’t meet the coverage requirements under ObamaCare. This would be a particular benefit to small businesses, which were going to feel the brunt of ObamaCare’s mandates over the next few years, and many of which were likely to be forced to drop employees into the exchanges in order to avoid the increased cost of health insurance.