NCIS

August 11, 2010

J.R. Reskovac

Sarah Strup

Appropriations- state-aid

The House cleared legislation Tuesday that would provide $26.1 billion in aid to states, finishing the work that prompted an interruption of the August recess.

House members returned Washington on Tuesday to vote on the Aviation Safety and Investment Act of 2010 (HR 1586), which cleared by a vote of 247-161.  The measure provides $16.1 billion to extend increased Medicaid aid to states and $10 billion in funding for states to create or retain education-related jobs.  President Obama then signed the bill into law later that day.

House Speaker Pelosi called members back from recess in order to prevent states from laying off police officers, firefighters, nurses and first-responders.  The Senate previously turned back the $10 billion in education funding that Obey had attached to a $58.8 billion FY10 supplemental appropriation measure to fund the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and other priorities (PL 111-212).  The state-aid package would also extend additional Federal Medical Assistance Percentages (FMAP) in the 2009 economic stimulus law (PL 111-5) for an extra six months.

Some Democrats had reservations about some of the offsets, including an $11.9 billion reduction in mandatory spending from ending increased food stamp benefits starting in April 2014 and a $1.5 billion reduction in appropriated funds for an Energy Department renewable-energy program.  Republicans who opposed the bill expressed concern that another offset to change foreign tax provisions could harm the economic recovery by imposing new taxes on businesses.

Those offsets would raise about $10 billion in revenue, and would target the use of the foreign tax credit by multinational corporations.  Major business groups have opposed the proposals, arguing that they would make U.S. companies less competitive abroad.  But Democrats dispute that the changes remove incentives for U.S. companies to locate their operations overseas.

For the full Senate Bill summary, please click here.

Senate

Sadly, former Senator Ted Stevens was killed along with four others in a plane crash Monday night.  Only four of the nine passengers survived the crash in Southwest Alaska.  Stevens was 87 years old and was the longest-serving Republican Senator in history.

Washington Outlook

After clearing the State-Aid legislation that had disrupted their August break, the House recessed again yesterday afternoon.  The next legislative update will cover the week of September 13th-17th, after Congress returns from recess.

July 23, 2010

J.R. Reskovac

Sarah Strup

Appropriations- Subcommittee Markups

Commerce/Justice/Science

Thursday, Senate Appropriators approved a $60.1 billion discretionary bill, $400 million less than requested and $4.3 billion below 2010.  This is primarily because 2010 spending for the Census Bureau was significantly boosted for the agency to conduct its required 10-year count.  The bill ratifies the compromise NASA human spaceflight strategy approved last week by the Senate Commerce Committee.