By CongressDailyAM staff
© National Journal Group Inc.
Monday, July 30, 2007

Members of Congress might already be eyeing the exits in anticipation of the August recess, but before anyone can hit the beach or the mountains, both chambers, particularly the House, have a mammoth workload to slog through that includes appropriations bills, an expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, energy legislation, lobbying reform and workforce discrimination.

The Senate will vote today to begin debate on a $35 billion bill to reauthorize SCHIP, which supporters and opponents alike agree has the 60 votes to overcome a filibuster.

Once senators begin debating the bill, Republicans will offer an alternative that will include small business health plans, health savings accounts and a $9 billion SCHIP reauthorization. The GOP alternative is intended to begin a broader discussion over differences between Democrats and Republicans on health care policy.

Republicans who oppose the current bill say they will not use parliamentary delaying tactics if they are allowed sufficient debate and votes on their amendments. But Senate aides say Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., might be required to file a cloture motion to cut off debate.

The Senate SCHIP bill was carefully negotiated among a bipartisan group in the Finance Committee, and those negotiators are bracing to hold off amendments from both parties that would alter the deal.

Democrats are expected to offer amendments to expand the proposal. One amendment, by Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., would increase the new funding for SCHIP to $50 billion over five years, as allowed in the budget resolution.

In the House, a broader SCHIP bill that includes Medicare provisions is likely to see a floor vote this week. That measure faces staunch opposition from House Republicans. While House leaders are targeting about two dozen moderate Republicans for their support, lawmakers and aides in the whip operation acknowledge that they might have to rely solely on Democrats to pass the bill.

The House bill, which was produced jointly by the Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means committees, would add $50 billion to SCHIP and stave off a Medicare physician fee cut for two years. It is paid for by a 45-cent-per-pack tax on cigarettes, a cut in extra payments to private Medicare Advantage plans and Medicare payment rate freezes for several health care providers.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Friday she would meet with Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell, D-Mich., and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., on reconciling the two committee's measures. "We will be bringing this bill to the floor next week," Pelosi promised.

Floor debate on the bill is likely to be feisty, particularly because Dingell was forced to adjourn the committee markup when Republicans refused to waive the clerk's reading of the bill. The maneuver might have delayed committee action indefinitely.

The Rules Committee now will have to discharge the bill from the committee when it comes to the floor. Ways and Means Republicans forced that committee's clerk to read some of their bill, but they relented in the wee hours of the morning Friday and the measure passed on a party-line vote.

The House also will vote this week on a bill that Democrats say will correct a recent Supreme Court decision making it more difficult for plaintiffs to win pay discrimination cases under civil rights law. In May, the high court ruled in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. [PDF] that a plaintiff alleging pay discrimination cannot claim each paycheck to be the start of a 180-day statute of limitations. To respond to that decision, which Democrats say makes it nearly impossible for plaintiffs to sue their employers for pay disparities, the bill would start the statute of limitations period "each time wages, benefits, or other compensation is paid."

The Ledbetter bill has created considerable acrimony on the Education and Labor Committee, with Republicans complaining that, despite their willingness to cooperate, they were shut out of the bill-writing process. Democrats say they held several hearings on the issue and had an open markup.

The White House issued a veto threat against the bill Friday, to which Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller, D-Calif., responded: "The president has issued enough veto threats to paper the walls of the U.S. Capitol building. But this legislation is going to pass with bipartisan support, and it is going to become law."

Congressional leaders are headed to the White House to meet with President Bush Wednesday for a discussion of major outstanding issues, including the standoff over domestic appropriations. House and Senate Republicans have in some areas expressed a willingness to eclipse Bush's top-line discretionary spending request of $933 billion, which might make it harder for the president to stand firm in final negotiations.

By veto-proof margins, the Senate passed a Homeland Security spending bill last week that adds $5.2 billion to Bush's request, while the House has passed legislation adding $4 billion for veterans' health and another $1.1 billion for the Energy Department and water projects.

But thus far, Republicans have held firm in the House on other domestic spending, while the Senate has yet to put any of its domestic appropriations bills to the test on the floor. Republican leaders predict that, in the end, they will be able to sustain veto-proof margins on domestic spending bills, while accepting some increases for border security and veterans and perhaps some reallocations in other areas.

Wednesday's meeting might provide some insight into the direction the spending fight is headed, as Democrats try to avoid the end-of-session legislative "train wreck" Republicans are predicting. The meeting also might have an impact on the nomination of former House Budget Chairman Jim Nussle, R-Iowa, to be Office of Management and Budget Director.

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., has scheduled a vote for Wednesday morning, but Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., has not set a vote, preferring to weigh in after the leaders' meeting with Bush later that day.

Meanwhile, the House will take up its final two spending bills this week.

At $459.6 billion, the FY08 Defense measure makes up nearly half the overall discretionary budget, but even that bill might serve as only a skirmish to the major fall battle over the next round of Iraq war funding. Bush's request for war spending, which does not count against budget caps, is $141.7 billion -- or six times more than the $23 billion extra Democrats are seeking above the president's overall budget request.

Congress and the White House may be headed for a showdown similar to the one they faced over the spring war supplemental. In that case, Bush accepted an extra $17 billion in spending he did not request in exchange for Democrats dropping timelines for withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

The Iraq war will continue to be among the top issues the House takes up before departing for the monthlong August recess, with the FY08 Defense spending bill and two Iraq-related bills in the queue for floor consideration.

House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman John Murtha, D-Pa., plans to introduce an amendment to the spending bill that would require the Bush administration to begin reducing the U.S. military presence in Iraq 60 days after enactment. The amendment does not include a deadline to pull all troops out of Iraq, despite "tremendous pressure" from other anti-war Democrats to do so, Murtha said last week. Murtha also plans to introduce language during floor debate on the bill that would require troops be fully trained and equipped for their missions.

In addition, Democrats will offer an amendment that would close the military's detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, within 180 days.

The House also might consider two stand-alone measures cleared by the House Armed Services Committee Friday. One of those proposals mandates downtime for active-duty and reserve troops between deployments to Iraq. The other requires the administration to report to Congress within 60 days on the status of its plans to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq.

The House this week also takes up a $90.7 billion Agriculture appropriations bill. Most of the bill covers mandatory spending such as food stamps, crop insurance and commodity programs. The discretionary portion of the bill is $18.8 billion, nearly $1 billion above the president's request.

House Democratic leaders plan to take up an energy package this week with debate possible over amendments regarding renewable electricity, biofuels and fuel efficiency standards. Pelosi met Friday with several oil-patch and Western Democrats trying to reach a compromise on a plan from Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., that would slow down oil and gas production on federal lands. "We're getting closer," Rep. Gene Green, D-Texas, said afterward, indicating a deal was not reached at the meeting.

Democratic leaders had offered several concessions, including removing language from Rahall's plan that would have prevented companies from paying the government royalty-in-kind -- or paying in oil and gas instead of cash -- for production on federal land. Another possible concession was removing Rahall language repealing a section of the 2005 energy bill that sets a deadline on the designation of pipeline and electricity transmission corridors on federal land.

Changes had also been proposed to language instituting fines and penalties on oil and gas producers, language regarding oil shale and tar sands leasing, as well as language regarding categorical exclusions to federal environmental rules.

Democrats are divided over plans to increase the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards for cars and light trucks. Pelosi supports an expected amendment from Reps. Tom Udall, D-N.M., and Todd Platts, R-Pa., requiring utilities to increase their use of renewable energy to 20 percent by 2020. Southern Democrats -- including Energy and Commerce Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va. -- oppose this mandate and argue that their region does not have the necessary renewable resources.

Democratic leaders might also back an amendment boosting production of biofuels. GOP leaders have derided the energy package as insufficiently promoting domestic production.

Debate might occur in a one-day marathon session with a limited number of amendments allowed. At press time, there was not a specific day this week set aside for the energy debate.

Meanwhile, Democratic leaders hope to make good on a 2006 election promise before Congress adjourns for the recess by passing a comprehensive lobbying bill out of Congress. Sources indicated late last week that House and Senate negotiators had nearly completed an agreement on the lobby bill. Because Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., has objected to taking the bill to conference, Democrats are writing a final version without GOP contributions and plan to pass identical versions of it.

House Democrats are expected to move the lobby bill as early as Tuesday, which would give the Senate time to approve identical language and send the bill to the president for his signature.

One of the most controversial aspects of the bill is a requirement that lobbyists disclose their bundling of campaign contributions for candidates. Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., the chief sponsor of the House bundling bill, said the Senate has proposed shifting the reporting burden from lobbyists to lawmakers. Van Hollen said late last week that he is evaluating Senate proposals, and said he could support a change, "as long as you require the same information be filed."

In the Senate, Reid has said repeatedly the chamber would not break for its August recess until it passes a lobbying bill.

The final package might face an objection from DeMint if it does not include the Senate-passed bill's earmark language, which includes disclosure requirements and provides for a point of order. Because the bill includes changes to Senate rules, the Senate would need 67 votes to overcome an objection and approve the package.

The House will vote today on two measures that would provide state and local governments, investors and asset managers expanded opportunity to divest from Iran and Sudan.

One measure would require the Treasury Department to establish a list of companies whose business activities in Sudan directly support the ruling party that has been accused of genocide. The measure contains "safe harbor" provisions for managers of mutual funds and corporate pension managers who choose to do the same.

The other bill would require the federal government to establish a list of entities that invest in Iran and allow for divestment, providing protection to investors and state and local governments that choose not to invest in companies that support Iran's oil and gas industry.

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