Capitol Hill Update, 9 September, 2013
House & Senate/Schedule: Both the House and Senate are back in business after five weeks. The House will be in session through the end of next week, September 20th and will then recess for a week. The Senate, meanwhile, will be in continuous session through October 11th.
Legislative Highlight of the Week: On Thursday the House will vote on a Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund the federal government for the next fiscal year beginning on October 1st. The details of the CR have not yet been released – whether it will fund the government for a full year or if anything else will be attached to it. Regardless, the most crucial component of this CR is that it must defund ObamaCare, which House leadership has not committed to doing. With ObamaCare’ implementation beset by problems at every turn, defunding it for a year through the CR ought to be an easy call, and FreedomWorks has issued a Key Vote against any CR that fails to defund ObamaCare.
House/ObamaCare: On Wednesday, the House is expected to vote on the No Subsidies without Verification Act, H.R. 2775, sponsored by Diane Black (R-TN). Currently, the administration has admitted that it may not be able to verify whether the recipients of insurance premium subsidies under ObamaCare are actually eligible for the money. This bill would protect taxpayer dollars from fraud by stopping those subsidies from flowing until HHS can verify that they have the ability to ascertain whether applicants are really eligible for them. FreedomWorks will be issuing a Key Vote in favor of the bill.
House/Energy & Commerce: On Wednesday the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on health, will hold a hearing on ObamaCare’s implementation. The hearing will focus on the multitude of delays and glitches in the health care law’s implementation leading up to its October 1st start date.
Senate/Syria: Although subject to change depending upon the President’s actions, the Senate may start the procedural votes and debate over the authorization of force for Syria this week. Given the multitude of economic red lines being cross here at home, it seems illogical that the U.S. ought to get involved in another expensive military operation overseas that could easily lead into another prolonged (and thus even more unaffordable) war. With America’s economy still sagging and our debt at nearly the size of our entire economy, we can neither afford the expense not the distraction of yet another war. Thus, FreedomWorks has issued a Key Vote against any resolution authorizing force in Syria.
