A U.S. Air Force sergeant directs an A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft for an end of runway inspection, on November 10, 2011.

A U.S. Air Force sergeant directs an A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft for an end of runway inspection, on November 10, 2011. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman David Carbajal

Congress Is About to Have a Major Fight on the Future of the A-10

Capitol Hill will also be slammed with a leadership battle in the House, looming investigations on the VA scandal, and ongoing budget fights. By Billy House

The House and Senate enter this week under pressure to hash out differences in their veterans' health care bills, even as lawmakers eye events in Iraq and House Republicans plan to pick a new majority leader in the wake of Eric Cantor's primary election defeat.

The efforts to forge a two-chamber deal on a Veterans Affairs Department reform bill and get it to President Obama for his signing will also come amid demands for progress on 12 spending measures due before the new fiscal year begins on Oct. 1. It could all prove a tough juggling act, particularly for House Republicans distracted by internal upheaval.

But both chambers are intent on stopping the rash of reported—and preventable—veteran deaths. The Senate and House bills would similarly reduce wait times and hold the VA more accountable by expanding health care access beyond the VA medical centers and by making it easier to fire incompetent senior leaders.

There are differences to overcome, however, including a provision in the Senate bill that provides whatever emergency funding is necessary to carry out the reforms—without offsetting the spending under pay-as-you-go budget rules.

House Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller, a Florida Republican, has said it will be hard for him to sell that open-funding measure to his caucus.

Meanwhile, the House GOP leadership races for the No. 2 and possibly No. 3 posts under Speaker John Boehner will consume attention, with a "candidate forum" set on Wednesday morning at the Capitol for contenders. In that closed-door meeting, they will state their cases to fellow House Republicans. The voting by the 233 GOP House members will also occur behind closed doors on Thursday.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California appeared on track to rise from majority whip—the No. 3 leadership job—to succeed Cantor as majority leader. However, Rep. Raul Labrador of Idaho announced Friday he would be challenging McCarthy. Meanwhile, a three-way race to succeed McCarthy as whip—assuming he wins Cantor's post—was underway late last week between Reps. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, Peter Roskam of Illinois (the current chief deputy whip), and Marlin Stutzman of Indiana.

Here's some of what else Congress will be doing this week:

—General Motors CEO Mary Barra, and Anton Valukas, head of the company's internal ignition switch recall investigation, is to appear before the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.

—The Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl prisoner-exchange controversy remains in the spotlight, with the House Foreign Affairs Committee set to hold a joint subcommittee hearing Wednesday on its implications for national security and the fight against terrorism.

—On Wednesday, against the unfolding events in Iraq, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is to hold a hearing on the government's troop-transition policy in Afghanistan, including testimony from James Dobbins, the State Department's special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Whether the House or Senate intends to advance any resolution or other action this week pertaining specifically to Iraq was not certain.

—Julian Castro, the mayor of San Antonio, Texas, is to go before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday for his confirmation hearing to become the Housing and Urban Development secretary.

—Spending bills for the upcoming fiscal year will make their Senate floor debut with votes as early as Tuesday. Majority Leader Harry Reid and Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski have agreed on a package that combines three measures into one, known as a minibus—a miniature omnibus. The spending package is expected to include funding for Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, HUD, and Transportation.

—The House Rules Committee is to meet on Tuesday to set procedures for a floor vote later in the week on the 2015 Defense Appropriations bill. The measure would be the fifth of the 12 annual spending bills to be passed in that chamber. That same day, the committee is to also meet to provide language calling for a House-Senate conference on the veterans legislation.

—On Wednesday, the House Rules Committee is to meet to set up procedures for a floor vote on reauthorization of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and floor action could become controversial over efforts by Republicans to scale back what they say are its too-broad powers.

—On Monday, the Senate is to vote on Salvador Mendoza Jr. to be U.S. district judge for the Eastern District of Washington; Staci Yandle to be U.S. district judge for the Southern District of Illinois; and Darrin Gayles to be U.S. district judge for the Southern District of Florida.

—On Tuesday, the Senate is to vote on the confirmation of Peter Kadzik to be an assistant attorney general.

In addition, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairwoman Mary Landrieu of Louisiana has set votes for Wednesday on a contentious executive branch nominee—Norman Bay to chair the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission—as well as on legislation to fast-track construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.

BUDGET and FINANCE

Push on Approps

The House Defense Appropriations bill to be taken up this week would provide $491 billion in discretionary funding for national security and other needs. House GOP leaders had pushed back action on the 2015 Agriculture Appropriations bill until at least the week of June 23 because of the conference leadership shuffle.

The minibus package to hit the Senate floor this week would provide nearly $126 billion for programs including Community Development Block Grants, nutrition, railroad and transportation infrastructure, and combatting gun violence.

The Transportation/HUD bill, the largest of the three bills under consideration, spends $54.4 billion, about $3 billion over what the president requested. The bill includes $18 billion for the Transportation Department and $36 billion for HUD. Last year's THUD bill, the only one to make it to the floor, was derailed over GOP fears that it would bust the Budget Control Act caps. This year, because of the Bipartisan Budget Act, those fears have been mostly neutralized.

The Commerce, Justice, Science bill allots $51.2 billion—$1 billion more than the president requested. It includes funding for the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, as well as for NASA. The bill also includes $1.1 billion to address gun violence, members say, with portions of those funds going to the FBI to run instant background checks on purchases, for example.

The Agriculture bill includes $20.57 billion for agricultural research, the Food and Drug Administration, nutrition programs, and natural resources conservation. The bill includes $6.62 billion for the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program, which is $93 million less than was allocated in fiscal 2014. Democrats stress that the program will accommodate the expected number of participants.

Unlike much of the legislation brought to the floor this year, which has been part of Democratic efforts to win reelection, these appropriations bills stand a better chance of passing. That's because the spending levels were set by the two-year budget deal agreed to by Rep. Paul Ryan and Sen. Patty Murray last year.

Most bills have foundered over partisan disagreements about the amendments process on the floor, with Reid blocking Republicans from offering their measures. Democrats counter that Republicans would offer non-germane amendments, or make them take votes on difficult political issues—like the medical device tax, for example.

Democrats are open to amendments on the appropriations bill, Democratic aides confirmed. What's less clear is whether the amendment process on the minibus will serve as a poison pill.

There are signs of trouble ahead, though not on this spate of bills. Mikulski canceled an expected markup of the Labor/Health and Human Services markup after Republicans let it be known they planned to push amendments targeting the Affordable Care Act. Sen. Lamar Alexander, the ranking Republican on the authorizing committee overseeing HHS, instead took the floor last week to publicly air his amendments.

DEFENSE

Warthog Battle

Floor fights are looming over the Pentagon's plan to spike the A-10 Warthog attack plane, which has the backing of House appropriators but is opposed by Armed Services Committee members in both chambers. The defense authorization bill crafted by the two Armed Services panels would spare the plane.

Besides negotiating a final bill, the House Veterans' Affairs Committee is continuing its examination into problems with VA health care. It holds a hearing on non-VA health care solutions on Wednesday and another hearing reviewing how bonuses were awarded to senior leaders at the VA on Friday.

ECONOMY

CFTC Issues

The efforts to pass a Commodity Futures Trading Commission reauthorization will be carried in the form of the Customer Protection and End User Relief Act, a bill authored by House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas.

The last reauthorization of the CFTC occurred in 2008, before the height of the financial crisis and prior to the enactment of the Dodd-Frank Act. Since then, Republicans like Cantor have complained that the CFTC has gained broad new authorities to supervise the futures and swaps markets.

And, as asserted in a recent Cantor memo to fellow House Republicans, "many of the CFTC's new rules have negatively impacted end-users, such as our farmers, ranchers, manufacturers, small businesses, and utilities, by making it more difficult and costly to manage risks associated with their businesses."

The Lucas bill is being depicted as "meaningful relief" from overly burdensome requirements from the CFTC.

ENERGY and ENVIRONMENT

Keystone Returns

President Obama nominated Bay to become the FERC chair, but conservative and moderate panel members say he lacks the requisite experience to steer the body. Instead, they want acting Chairwoman Cheryl LaFleur to hold onto her seat.

Landrieu and Energy and Natural Resources ranking member Lisa Murkowski of Alaska are currently involved in negotiations with Senate leaders to confirm Bay as a commissioner but keep LaFleur as chair. A deal has not yet been reached.

Meanwhile, Landrieu's push for a vote to approve Keystone puts a vulnerable Democrat on the panel in a tough spot. Sen. Mark Udall of Colorado is facing a tough fight for reelection in the midterms and has worked to court the oil and gas industry as well as environmentalists. Last week, Udall said he plans to vote against the pipeline bill, but steered away from making a judgment call on the project. Instead, he said he does not think the issue should be injected with partisan politics.

The Obama administration has been choosing friendly audiences so far to discuss its plan to lower carbon emissions from existing power plants. But the reception won't be as rosy Thursday when the Environmental Protection Agency's acting air chief Janet McCabe defends the plan before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Power. Chairman Ed Whitfield of Kentucky and other committee Republicans have blasted the plan as too costly and an executive overreach that will make energy too expensive.

On Wednesday, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will hold another hearing on the need to act on climate change, but this time will be recruiting help from the right. Among the witnesses will be four former EPA administrators that served under Republican administrations: William Ruckelshaus, Lee Thomas, William Reilly, and Christine Todd Whitman.

HEALTH CARE

MedPAC Reforms

The House Ways and Means Committee will hold a hearing Wednesday on the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission's June report to Congress. MedPAC is required to submit two reports to Congress each year, offering recommendations for reforming Medicare payment policy. The June report focuses on specific issues facing the federal program, and Wednesday's hearing will feature testimony from MedPAC's executive director, Mark E. Miller.

The Senate's $158 billion Labor/HHS bill—which includes some funding for Obamacare in 2015—was supposed to be marked up by now in the Appropriations Committee but Mikulski canceled a vote on the bill after Republicans indicated they would force a series of politically painful votes on vulnerable committee Democrats.

Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin, the bill's author, said it is now unlikely to be considered separately on the floor and will end up in a later omnibus package with other spending bills. Harkin denied that the "tough" Obamacare votes were the reason the markup was delayed.

WHITE HOUSE

Tech Support

After returning to Washington from California on Monday, Obama will take his message on the economy and jobs to Pittsburgh, traveling there on Tuesday for an event at Tech Shop in the high-tech hub of Bakery Square.

From Pittsburgh, he will travel to New York to raise money for the Democratic National Committee and participate in the DNC's LGBT Gala.

At the White House on Wednesday, the president will host the first-ever White House "Maker Faire" and meet with "students, entrepreneurs and everyday citizens who are using new tools and techniques to launch new businesses, learn vital skills in science, technology, engineering and math, and fuel the renaissance in American manufacturing."

On Thursday, he will award the Medal of Honor to former Marine Cpl. William "Kyle" Carpenter for his bravery while serving as a rifleman in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

Obama will close out the week on Friday, meeting with Prime Minister John Key of New Zealand.

Michael Catalini, Stacy Kaper, Clare Foran, Jason Plautz, Sophie Novack, and George E. Condon Jr. contributed to this article.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.