This Week in the People's House

This Week in the People's House
6/27/2010
By Bobby Frederick

The House convened on Monday, June 21st (first votes at 6:02 p.m. on Tuesday, June 22nd) and adjourned on Friday, June 25th* (last vote at 7:09 p.m. on Thursday, June 24th), registering 19 votes for the week. For the third week in a row, Democrat leadership cancelled votes for Friday in the House. The House was in session for a total of 26 hours and 22 minutes.

This week, the House passed a controversial bill in response to the Supreme Court’s also controversial Citizens United vs FEC Supreme Court ruling from January 21, 2010. The 5-4 decision overturned existing law to effectively allow corporations and unions to spend freely on campaign commercials.

Republicans cheered the decision as a victory for free speech while Democrats vowed to fashion a legislative fix so that election spending by corporations [and presumably unions] would not, in the words of President Obama, "drown out the voices of everyday Americans." For three weeks House Democrats struggled to find the votes to pass their response measure, but after carve outs for certain groups, a promise by the Senate to act on the measure and a voice of support from the Administration, H.R. 5175, the DISCLOSE Act passed (more after the jump).

Current Balance of the House stands at 433 members : 255 Democrats, 178 Republicans and 2 vacancies (NY-29 & IN-3).

*On Monday the House was in session for 3 minutes to approve the Journal and say the pledge of allegiance. Similarly, on Friday, the House was in session for 3 minutes to receive a message from the Clerk and recite the pledge.

Rule Bills

H.R. 5175, the Democracy is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections (DISCLOSE) Act, introduced by Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-MD).

Brief History:

For more than a century, corporations have been legally banned from contributing money to federal campaigns. The Taft-Hartley Act spelled out the same prohibition to labor unions in 1947. In 2002, the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (aka BICRA or McCain/Feingold) banned "soft" (read unregulated) money and set limits for "hard" (read regulated) money. Limits on "hard" money for the 2010 cycle can be found here. BICRA also banned unions and corporations from producing "electioneering communications" which are defined as ads that mentioning a federal candidate 60 days prior to the general and 30 days leading up to the primary election.

Citizens United vs FEC:

Fast Forward to the 2008 election when conservative interest group, Citizens United produced "Hillary: The Movie" a film critical of then presidential-candidate Hillary Clinton. The group wanted to advertise the movie and offer it free via cable, but under BICRA's 30 day pre-primary rule, this was against the law. Citizens United sued and the case reached the Supreme Court. After 2 sets of oral arguments, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Citizens United saying that from now on, they (along with corporations and unions) can spend money on ads (through their general treasury fund as opposed to setting up a Political Action Committee) that advocate for or against a federal candidate at any time before the election. However, the provision preventing corporations and unions from donating directly to a campaign still stands.

Bill Summary:
During his State of the Union Address, President Obama memorably took the Supreme Court to task over their decision which had Justice Samuel Alito shaking his head. In response, House Democrats pushed the DISCLOSE Act which places stricter disclosure rules on corporations and unions that engage in campaign advertising. Under this legislation, individuals or groups that fund these ads must be identified in a disclaimer. Corporations and unions must also reveal those donors that give $600 or more in a single year for campaign activities. Foreign controlled corporations would be banned from making contributions to U.S. campaigns.

The National Rifle Association (NRA) announced its vehement opposition to the DISCLOSE act and successfully sought an exemption from its requirements. House Democrats, not being able needing the votes of conservative Democrats to pass the legislation, coalesced to the NRA's demands, altering the language of the bill, and ultimately exempting other groups such as AARP, the Sierra Club and the Humane Society. These carve-outs had both conservative and liberal special interest groups railing against the legislation.

On the House floor, Democrats supported DISLCOSE saying it was necessary to prevent corporations from a "take over [of] the political system." Republicans opposed DISCLOSE by decrying the backroom exemptions and arguing that the bill restricted free speech.

DISCLOSE narrowly passed 219-206 (Voting Yes- 217 D's & 2 R's : Voting No- 36 D's & 170 R's). Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid promised action on this legislation in the Senate. In order for DISCLOSE to take effect before the 2010 election, Congressional Democrats and President Obama must act quickly.

Suspensions

The House suspended the rules to pass 13 measures, including: Supporting men's health week, recognizing Juneteenth Independence Day, supporting goals of high-performance building week, require Treasury to certify purchases under small business lending fund program, recognizing national home ownership month & national Caribbean-American Heritage month, granting subpoena power to the national commission set up to investigate the BP oil spill, calling card consumer protection act, supporting hurricane preparedness week, recognizing the 50th anniversary of the US Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security. For vote tallies, click here (376-384, 387 & 392).

The House also passed, 417-1, a suspension that would prevent the 21% cut in Medicare payments to physicians (aka the "doc fix") through the end of November. The House was forced to pass this measure after the Senate failed to pass their tax extenders legislation (which would have included this provision).

The House passed a conference report to the President, via suspenion that would place tougher economic sanctions on Iran. The Vote was 408-8-1.

Big News Recap

Washington was rocked this week as General Stanley McChrystal was relieved of his duty as Commander of US forces in Afghanistan after a Rolling Stone article surfaced in which McChrystal and his staff were dismissive and critical of certain Administration officials including Vice President Biden.

General David Petraeus will take over, leaving his job as commander of CENTCOM in Tampa, Florida to run war operations from Kabul, Afghanistan. Petraeus will be confirmed by the Senate on Tuesday.

This shake-up in Afghanistan comes as the US offensive in Kandahar has stalled and June has become the deadliest month of the nearly nine-year war, for coalition forces as 80 have lost their lives so far.

On June 21st, would be Times-Square bomber, Faisal Shahzad pled guilty and promised more Islamist extremist attacks.

BP Oil Spill- Day 67; Finally, in a bit of "good news" for the Gulf clean-up efforts, tropical storm Alex looks likely to miss the spill site.

Upcoming Action in the People's House

With just 128 days until the 2010 Midterm Elections and a mere 34 days left on the House Session Calendar, time is running short for legislative priorities.

This coming week, the House will vote on approving the Conference Report to H.R. 4173, the Financial Regulatory Reform Bill.

After a couple of weeks of delay, the House is likely to consider H.R. 4899, the War Supplemental Bill which contains $84.3 billion in emergency funding (money for surge in Afghanistan, state funding, Pell Grants, border enforcement, etc).

This Week in the People's House

This Week in the People's House
6/20/2010
By Bobby Frederick
Happy Father's Day!

Another light week on the legislative front as House Democrat leadership cancelled Friday's session for a second week in a row. Convening at 12:30 p.m. on Monday, June 14th (first votes at 6:32 p.m.) and adjourning at 7:33 p.m. on Thursday, June 17th (last vote at 2:03 p.m.), the House registered 21 votes for the week. The House was in session for a total of 33 hours and 2 minutes.

The House completed two pieces of legislation geared towards assisting small businesses, however this week was most notable for what the House did NOT get done. On Thursday, after a three-hour-and-twenty minute recess, Democrat leadership sent members home for the week when it became clear they did not have the votes for their campaign finance bill (H.R. 5175), AND that the long-stalled tax extenders bill (H.R. 4213) would not be sent back from the Senate.

Current Balance of the House : 255 Democrats, 178 Republicans and 2 vacancies (NY-29 & IN-3). Tom Graves (R-GA-9) was sworn in on Monday June 14th.

Rule Bills

6/16/2010

H.R. 5486, the Small Business Jobs Tax Relief Act of 2010, introduced by Congressman Sander Levin (D-MI).

Summary: Among the 6 tax provisions in this bill is a 22-month 100% exclusion on the capital gains tax from selling small business stock (held for a minimum of five years).

H.R. 5486 also increases - from $5,000 to $20,000 - the start-up expenses that small businesses can deduct in 2010 and 2011.

According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, these tax incentives will cost $3.6 billion over 10 years. To offset these costs, the authors altered the tax code for estate planning by requiring a ten year term for "grantor retained annuity trusts", and made tall crude oil ineligible for the Cellulosic Biofuel Producer Credit. The JCT ruled that these provisions would increase government revenue by $7.1 billion through FY 2020 for a net gain of $3.5 billion (which will be used to offset the cost of H.R. 5297).

Arguments: Proponents of the legislation argued that it would create jobs for small business while opponents argued the tax relief did not go far enough and that the $3.5 billion surplus would be used to fund another bailout type program.

Motion to Recommit (MTR): Using their final opportunity to amend the bill, Republicans offered an MTR that would repeal the section of the health care bill that requires a person to purchase health insurance (aka the individual mandate). The Motion failed 187-230 (Voting Yes- 21 D's & 166 R's : Voting No- 229 D's & 1 R).

H.R. 5486 passed by a vote of 247-170 (Voting Yes- 242 D's & 5 R's : Voting No- 8 D's & 162 R's).


6/17/2010

H.R. 5297, the Small Business Lending Fund Act of 2010, introduced by Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA).
Summary: Would authorize the Treasury Department to administer a $30 billion fund to invest in eligible financial institutions in an effort to encourage banks to lend to small businesses. H.R. 5297 also authorizes $1 billion in financing for "early stage" businesses.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) put the cost of this bill at $3.3 billion through FY 2015. This would be covered by the aforementioned surplus from H.R. 5486.

Arguments: Supporters maintained that this bill would increase lending to small businesses and ultimately "make a profit" for taxpayers. Opponents countered by likening the bill to another version of the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) and arguing that the bill would not guarantee that banks lend to small businesses.

H.R. 5297 passed by a vote of 241-182 (Voting Yes- 238 D's & 3 R's : Voting No 13 D's & 169 R's).

Next Step: Pursuant to the terms of the rule for H.R. 5297, both H.R. 5297 and H.R. 5486, after being passed individually, will be combined into one bill and sent to the Senate.


YouCUT
For the 4th week, Republican leadership sought the counsel of citizens in an effort aimed at reducing the deficit. People vote via text-message on a spending cut and then Republicans offer it on the House Floor (usually through a parliamentary method known as Ordering the Previous Question).

This week, Congressman Jason Chafettz (R-UT) offered a cut that could save up to $15 billion by speeding up the process for selling excess federal property

This effort failed 241-179 (Voting Yes- 241 D's & 0 R's : Voting No- 7 D's & 172 R's).

Suspensions

The House suspended the rules to pass 10 pieces of legislation this past week. Measures include supporting National Dairy Month, American Eagle Day, a gift card measure, honoring FFA advisor Larry Case, recognizing father's day, honoring 20th anniversary of the Albert Einstein fellowship program and honoring the NAACP, Department of Justice, Flag Day and the Urban Prep Charter Academy. Click here for vote tallies (roll call vote 355-58, 361-62, 364-67 & 370). H.R. 4855, the Work-Life Balance Act failed on suspension (roll call vote 360).

Other Big News : Gulf Oil Spill & Afghanistan

President Obama used his first oval office speech to address the nation on the oil spill crisis in the Gulf. His remarks were criticized by some on the left.

Lawmakers' anger spills out at BP CEO Tony Hayward as he testifies on Capitol Hill. By the end of the week, he had gotten "his life back".

As we head in to Day 62 of the spill (Monday June 21st), BP's own worst case scenario estimates a possible leak of 100,000 barrels of oil a day.

Ranking Member on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Congressman Joe Barton (R-TX) had to apologize for his apology to BP in order to keep his spot on the panel.

A United Nations report claims that coordinated attacks and assassinations are increasing at an alarming rate in Afghanistan. This comes ahead of the summer surge of 30,000 U.S. troops.

The People's House Political Extra (135 Days until the 2010 Midterm Elections)

Paraphrased quote of the week: "The bad news for Democrats is that we're low in the polls. The good news is that the Republicans are right down there with us. They (American voters) don't like any of us." Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD)

Hoyer might be on to something. Democrats have surely seen better days as this NPR poll shows. Using data from 60 Democratic incumbent districts and 10 Republican incumbent districts, NPR found that 56% of those in Democratic districts said they would not vote to re-elect their Congressman, compared to 39% in GOP districts. Meanwhile, Republicans hold a 49%-41% advantage on a generic ballot question.

However, not all the news is good for Republicans as this Rasmussen Reports poll shows. Seventy-two percent of Republican voters say that Republican members of Congress are out of touch with the party base.

Five months outside of the election where they are expected to lose seats in both the House and Senate, Democrats are employing $50 million into the risky strategy of trying to tap back in to those first-time voters who helped put President Obama in office in 2008.

Upcoming Action in The People's House

Democrats hope that the third time is the charm after shelving H.R. 5175, the Democracy is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections (DISCLOSE) Act, for the past two weeks. The National Rifle Association was successful in getting an exemption from the provisions of this bill (including having to physically appear in ads they sponsor and disclose their contributions). This move, designed to secure the votes of Blue Dog Democrats, ended up upsetting liberal democrats and other interest groups, putting the status of the bill in limbo.

The House MAY consider an $84.3 billion war supplemental funding bill. $33 billion would go to defense efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan while the rest would fund states, Pell Grants, disaster assistance in Haiti and border enforcement.

Finally, this week Democrat leadership announced it was cancelling session the week of August 2nd, which means there are now 39 days left on the Legislative Calendar for the year.

This Week in the People's House

This Week in the People's House
6/13/2010
By Bobby Frederick

It was a light legislative week as Congressional leaders cancelled session on Friday, leading to a 3-day-week. Convening at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, June 8th (first votes at 6:03 p.m.) and adjourning at 5:46 p.m. on Thursday, June 10th (last vote at 2:47 p.m.), the House registered 18 votes for the week. The House was in session for a total of 22 hours and 57 minutes.

Current Balance of the House : 255 Democrats, 177 Republicans and 3 vacancies (GA-9, NY-29, IN-3).

Note: Republican Tom Graves won the special election in GA-9 and will be sworn in on Monday, June 14th. He replaces former Republican Congressman Nathan Deal who resigned to focus on his race for Georgia Governor.

Constituents in NY-29 & IN-3 are likely to go without representation until November as Governors Patterson and Daniels are leaning towards holding these special elections on Election Day 2010.

Rule Bills

H.R. 5072 - The FHA Reform Act of 2010 introduced by Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA).

Summary:
Via its website, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) "...provides mortgage insurance on loans made by FHA-approved lenders throughout the United States..insuring over 34 million properties since its inception in 1934." Traditionally, FHA has served low-income borrowers with low-cost mortgages, however the exodus of the private sector from the mortgage market due to the subprime crisis and recession increased FHA's share of the mortgage market.

H.R. 5072 would give FHA the authority to increase its premiums on mortgage insurance to 1.55% (up from .55%) on those whose down payment is less than 5% of their mortgage. This move is aimed to raise capital for the FHA.

H.R. 5072 passed overwhelmingly by a vote of 406-4 (Voting Yes- 241 D's & 165 R's : Voting No- 1 D & 3 R's). This bill now heads over to the Senate.

Suspensions

The House suspended the rules to consider 8 pieces of legislation this week. Of particular note, both House and Senate passed a measure allowing the President to access more of the Oil Spill Liability Trust fund for Gulf cleanup efforts. Current law only allows using $150 million of this fund per Fiscal Year. The President can now access multiple payments of up to $100 million for the Deepwater Horizon Spill.

The House also passed legislation regarding the Hoh Indian Tribe, honored Jacques Cousteau, made access to CBO scores more transparent, recognized World Ocean Day and named two Post Offices on suspension. Roll Calls 337-38, 342, 344-46. A measure urging the House to pursue international agreements on preventing ocean acidification (by controlling carbon) failed.

Other Big News

The BP/Deepwater Horizon oil spill reaches day 54. President Obama plans to address the nation on Tuesday, June 15th. BP has spent $1.6 billion on cleanup efforts. Meanwhile, Congress is pressuring BP to suspend its second quarter dividend payment.

In a blow to the US economic recovery, retail purchases unexpectedly fell 1.2%.

General Stanly McChrystal warns that violence will rise over the summer in Afghanistan as the Obama troop surge battles insurgents in Kandahar.

The March to November continues as 12 states cast votes this past week. Senate incumbent Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) who had been written off by pundits, lived to fight another day, while House incumbent Bob Inglis (R-SC) looks to be in trouble.

There are 142 days until Election Day 2010. No primary contests this week.

Upcoming Actions in the House

This week, the House will consider H.R. 5297, the Small Business Lending Fund Act of 2o10 which was introduced by Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA). This bill aims to increase capital for small businesses by authorizing a new $30 billion lending fund to be administered by the Treasury Department.

The House may also consider H.R. 5175, the Democracy is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections (DISCLOSE) Act, which was introduced by Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-MD). This legislation is in response to the Supreme Court's Citizens United case decision and would provide rules on election spending by corporations.

Also this month, the House will consider H.R. 4899, the Supplemental Appropriations Act for 2010 which was introduced by Congressman David Obey (D-WI). This measure will include funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as FEMA disaster assistance. It could include other "projects" as well. Last month the Senate passed a $58.8 billion supplemental, so now the ball is in the House's court.