Capitol Hill Update, 1 February, 2016

Capitol Hill Update, 1 February, 2016

House & Senate/Schedule: Both chambers are in session this week. Both House and Senate will next recess during the week of 15 February.

Senate/Energy: On Tuesday, the Senate is expected to hold the deciding cloture vote on S. 2012, the Energy Policy Modernization Act. A bipartisan bill sponsored by Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), this premise of this bill is to overhaul and modernize a series of energy-related programs and grants, to reduce wasted time and money in the bureaucracy.

However, the bill actually creates a number of new recipients of government energy subsidies, permanently extends a federal program for buying up more private land, and does near nothing to actually reduce the government’s enormous role in the energy sector. The inclusion of expedited processing for Liquefied Natural Gas exports is not enough to justify conservative support for this bill, for which FreedomWorks has issued a Key Vote: NO.

House/Health Care: In the wake of President Obama’s inevitable veto of the Republicans’ bill, H.R. 3762, to repeal the greater portion of ObamaCare, the House is set to hold a vote to override the veto this week. They would need north of 40 Democrats to join them in this effort to succeed, but the vote is an important statement of determination to eliminate ObamaCare, as it continues to tear apart our health care system.

House/Budget: The House Budget Committee will hold a hearing this Thursday at 9:30 AM on last week’s report by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report, which shows deficit spending increasing far faster than previously thought. You can read more about the alarming debt and deficit projections, and what needs to be done about them, HERE.

House/Cybersecurity: Last week, FreedomWorks joined a bipartisan coalition of groups supporting Rep. Justin Amash’s bill, H.R. 4350, to repeal the Cybersecurity Act of 2015. Check out the coalition letter explaining why there is such broad agreement that the bill is fundamentally flawed and should be repealed HERE.