The House of Representatives was out of session this past week. Members are continuing to operate under this Congresss new work schedule where they work in D.C. for two straight weeks, then return to their districts and work from their local offices for a week.
However, with the constant stream of news about the embattled Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., it was hard to believe members of the House were doing much else other than focusing on the next shoe to fall with Weiners sex scandal. By weeks end, several Democratic colleagues were asking him to resign his seat in Congress. An ethics committee investigation was initiated last week by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.
When the House convenes this week, members will have a request before them by Rep. Weiner. According to his spokesman, Risa Heller, the New York Democrat is asking for a leaving of absence so he can focus on treatment options, on becoming a better husband and healthier person. A request for a leave of absence is typically granted by unanimous consent of the full House and placed into the Congressional Record with a brief explanation as to the reason for the leave. The House Ethics Committee will then begin their investigation of the New York congressman.
The full House will debate the Agriculture appropriations bill and conclude the Military Construction/VA appropriations bill. The conclusion of these bills will wrap up three of the 12 annual appropriations bills. These are the spending bills that, when married together, make up the full funding of our federal government and all departments and agencies therein.
House action on the appropriations bills is welcome news for Hill watchers who witnessed history-in-the-making last year under the helm of the Democratic leadership of Pelosi and Sen. Harry Reid. You see, the last Congress was the first Congress going back to 1869 that failed to enact even one of the 12 appropriations bills.
This failure led to two monumental funding showdowns between Congress and the White House: one in December of 2010 that led to an extension of the Bush tax cuts and one in April of 2011 that led to a cut in our government funding by approximately $33 billion.
If the Senate fails to debate any of these appropriations bills that are making their way to their side of the U.S. Capitol, another showdown can be expected in late September. Thus far, the Senate is ignoring the appropriations bills and currently is debating a routine agency authorization bill that has traditionally been passed by unanimous consent.
Last week, the Senate majority leader used the Economic Development Agency reauthorization bill as a vehicle to conduct a political vote on what had come to be known in the halls of Congress as the swipe fees showdown. These are fees charged by the banks to retailers who allow the use of debit cards for business transactions. These fees can be as high as 44 cents per debit card swipe.
The vote in the Senate last week was a proposal by Democratic Sen. Jon Tester from Montana that would delay an impending federal regulation that tells banks they must cap these swipe fees at 12 cents per transaction. The banks wanted the Tester amendment agreed to so they could continue to charge the higher fee. The retailers opposed the Tester amendment because the sooner the fees come down, the cheaper it will be for retailers to operate on a day-to-day basis. The retailers were the winners by weeks end when the Senate failed to pass the Tester delay. It needed 60 votes to pass, and the final vote was 54-45.
This same EDA bill will be the subject of debate this week when the Senate conducts a procedural vote at 2:15 p.m. Tuesday on an amendment offered by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla. The Coburn amendment puts an end to the excise tax given to ethanol producers. This vote will require 60 votes to invoke additional rules that will govern further debate on ending the ethanol excise tax.
Repeal of this tax means savings to the taxpayer of $6 billion annually. After the conclusion of the Coburn amendment, other amendments pending to the EDA bill include the following:
- Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., to repeal the Dodd-Frank legislation.
- Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., increasing the public debt limit without any spending cuts.
- Sen. Benjamin Cardin, D-Md., FHA mortgage interest charges.
- Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., mortgage rate servicing.
- Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., making oil cartels illegal.
- Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, delaying Obamacare until all court cases are exhausted.
- Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, independent regulatory agencies.
- Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, unfunded mandates.
- Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., prohibiting funds for ethanol blender facilities.
- Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., repealing Davis-Bacon Act.
- Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., energy efficiency loan program.
- Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., repealing the 3 percent withholding vendor requirement.
- Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., reducing the total amount authorized in the EDA bill.
- Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., committee to assess federal regulatory mandates.
- Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., HUBZone designation process.
Stay tuned to see how the House will handle the leave of absence request by Rep. Weiner and how the Senate will slug through the myriad amendments pending to the Economic Development reauthorization bill.
Elizabeth B. Letchworth is a retired, elected United States Senate secretary for the majority and minority. Currently she is a senior legislative adviser for Covington & Burling, LLC and is the founder of GradeGov.com.
