CONGRESSIONAL SCHEDULE: November 4th midterm elections finally arrived, and both chambers of Congress are set to return on November 12th. ELECTIONS UPDATE: After the midterm elections, Republicans have gained enough seats in the Senate to reach a majority – Republicans now hold 53 seats with Louisiana still to be decided on December 6th. Even with 54 seats, Republicans will still need six Democrats on their side to overcome filibusters, which require a 60 vote supermajority. On the House side, Republicans made big wins and we’ll have final numbers on the chamber once the four outstanding races are decided: CA-07: Former Rep. Ose (R) leads incumbent Rep. Bera (D) by roughly 530. CA-16: Challenger Tacherra (R) leads Rep. Costa (D) by 741 votes. CA-26: Rep. Brownley (D) leads challenger Gorrell (R) by over 1k votes. NY-25: Rep. Slaughter (D) leads challenger Assini (R) by nearly 600 votes. With Republican majorities in both chambers, it is reasonable to expect that we will see an increase in initiatives against federal government employees pay and benefits, as well as initiatives to look at ways of making the government more ‘efficient’. NATCA will be working hard and will continue to ensure that Congress is educated on the jobs our members perform and the importance of the aviation industry to the U.S. economy. TRANSPORTATION HIGHLIGHTS: This year will be very important as lawmakers will be working on passing the 2015 FAA Reauthorization bill. Rep. Nick Rahall lost his re-election, and thus his spot as Ranking Member on the House T&I committee. Current speculation is that Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) will assume the top Democrat spot on the House committee. In addition, Republican control of the Senate means Sen. John Thune (R-SD) will now be the Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee and Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) will likely be the Chairman of the Aviation Subcommittee. LAME DUCK CONGRESS: Congress is scheduled to reconvene on November 12th for a “Lame Duck” session. A lame duck Congress describes the period between the November elections and the beginning of the next Congressional session in January. Some lawmakers who return for this lame duck session will not be members of Congress when the 114th Congress is sworn-in in January of 2015. Congress has postponed some important issues that will likely be left for consideration during the lame duck Congress, including the continuing resolution (CR) that funds government operations, including the FAA. · Appropriations Outlook for Lame Duck & Next Congress: House Republican appropriators say they will follow the two-year budget deal reached after the 2013 government shutdown. With majorities in both the House and Senate, Republicans now have more leverage in spending fights with the Administration, but they have indicated they don’t want to challenge the 2013 budget deal, in which Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) agreed to spending caps for the government for the 2014 and 2015 fiscal years. Keeping to the terms of the 2013 deal would likely make it easier to agree to a government-funding measure, and limit the possibility of another shutdown. The short-term spending bill currently in effect expires on December 11, 2014. · Omnibus Discussions: Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski and House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers are working to step up work on an omnibus spending bill, transitioning to negotiations from preparatory staff work. They’re hoping to pass a 12-bill omnibus spending bill providing detailed spending instructions for the entire federal discretionary budget. Passage of such a bill, while extremely unlikely, would avoid the need for another stopgap CR. The omnibus would detail $1 trillion in discretionary spending. However, House and Senate leaders haven’t formally signed off on an omnibus. The current deadline for a new spending bill is December 11, 2014. · Another CR? Negotiations over Decembers government funding bill are set to intensify as House and Senate leaders begin the lame-duck session. Awaiting lawmakers as they return to work Wednesday will be the framework of a $1.014 billion omnibus that House and Senate leaders have been developing during the recess in anticipation of action next month. But also on the table will be the option of another stopgap spending bill to cover government spending when the current measure expires on December 11. A CR extension at this time looks more politically feasible than an omnibus. Leadership is considering a six-month or year-long extension to fund government operations through September 30, 2015 if negotiations for the omnibus stall. · Transportation Appropriations: As a reminder, the House has already passed its $52 billion fiscal 2015 Transportation-HUD appropriations bill (H.R. 4745). The Senate Appropriations Committee also marked up its companion $54.4 billion bill (S. 2438), but the measure has yet to make it to the Senate floor. House and Senate negotiators are going to have some work to do during the lame-duck session if they want to strike a deal to fund transportation programs for the remainder of this fiscal year. LOOKING AHEAD TO 114TH CONGRESS: Government Affairs staff is already looking ahead to the new 114th Congress that will convene in January. The 114th Congress will meet starting on January 3, 2015 and last until January 3, 2017, marking the final years of Obama’s presidency. Government Affairs is already preparing material for visits to new members’ offices on the first day they are sworn in. · REID, PELOSI EXPECTED TO STAY IN LEADERSHIP: A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says he will remain atop the Democratic caucus in 2015, even in the event of an electoral defeat. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is expected to retain her post regardless of the outcome of the midterm elections. Democrats and Republicans in the Senate and House have their own procedures for selecting their leadership. T&I CHANGES LOOMING: After nearly four decades in the House, Rep. Nick Rahall lost his House seat to Republican Evan Jenkins. As mentioned above, many are anticipating that Rep. Peter DeFazio will become the new ranking member of the committee. Rep. Garamendi, a three-term lawmaker from California, is challenging DeFazio for the ranking member spot. Republicans have lost four of their 10 most senior lawmakers: Reps. Tom Petri, Howard Coble and Gary Miller, all of whom are retiring after the 113th Congress, and Shelley Moore Capito who won the West Virginia Senate seat vacated by Sen. Jay Rockefeller. Rep. Steve Daines also won a Senate seat and will be leaving the House. · DON’T FORGET THUD: The House Appropriations THUD panel that controls DOT funding will also see some major changes. The panel’s top Republican and Democrat are retiring after this year. Chairman Tom Latham and Ranking Member Ed Pastor did not run for reelection, and the second-ranking Republican, Frank Wolf, has also opted to retire from Congress. · OTHER COMMITTEE CHANGES: As it stands now, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) is poised to become the youngest Ways and Means Committee chairman since 1861. This potentially means a continuation of a national spotlight on spending cuts, which could include an anti-federal employee agenda. TRANSPO TALK AT WHITE HOUSE MEETING: Last Friday President Obama met with bipartisan leaders from the House and Senate on Friday. In a press release leading up to the meeting, President Obama renewed his calls for a transportation bill paid for with a corporate tax overhaul. “We all agree on the need to create more jobs that pay well,” he said. “Traditionally, both parties have been for creating jobs, rebuilding our infrastructure — our roads, bridges, ports, waterways. I think we can hone in on a way to pay for it through tax reform that closes loopholes and makes it more attractive for companies to create jobs here in the United States.” The idea of a tax on repatriated money to fund a long-term highway and transit bill has won some backers in Congress but has not gained a critical mass of support. The President seemed to imply that tax reforms could help fund NextGen as well. He said “I’m very interested in pursuing ideas that can put folks to work right now on roads and bridges and waterways and ports, and a better air traffic control system,” he said. “If we had one, by the way, we would reduce delays by about 30 percent. We could reduce fuel costs for airlines by about 30 percent. And hopefully that would translate into cheaper airline tickets, which I know everybody would be interested in.”
Posted on: Sat, 15 Nov 2014 15:25:25 +0000
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