Federal Update 10
September 11, 2009
CONGRESSIONAL DEVELOPMENTS
The Fall Congressional Agenda
A crowded agenda awaited Congress on its return from the August recess this week. Seven weeks remain until the target adjournment date of Oct. 30, but the list of "must do" legislation may push adjournment until closer to the end of the year.
The items expected to be considered prior to the end of the year include: (1) health care reform; (2) expiring tax provisions; (3) transportation funding reauthorization (likely a short-term extension of the current program); (4) unemployment benefits; (5) debt limit increase; (6) climate change/energy legislation; (7) 401(k) fee disclosures and defined benefit plan funding requirements; (8) financial regulatory reform; (9) appropriations bills, and (10) higher education reconciliation.
Obviously, health care reform will be the most contentious. The House "tri-care" bill, a product of three House committees, is currently being shaped into one large package for the full House to consider, which would likely not occur until the Senate bill is out of committee. In the Senate, Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus has announced his intent to mark up next week, but the question of whether any Republicans will support the measure remains.
While attention will chiefly be focused on health care reform, the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance are also tasked with producing legislation to extend or modify expiring tax provisions, such as the Research & Development (R&D) credit for businesses and deductions for tuition expenses. These expire Dec. 31.
There is disagreement between the chambers about how to handle reauthorization of the Surface Transportation Act. The current law expires on Sept. 30, the end of fiscal year 2009. Both Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood and Senate leadership would prefer an 18-month extension of the current program be approved and a new bill be considered about a year from now. Many in the House are pushing for consideration of a new bill this fall, although time is not on their side. Further complicating this effort is the massive cost of the six-year bill.
The House has produced a climate change bill, while the Senate Environment Committee has not marked up its bill. The House bill opens the door to a significant amount of R&D, much of which could be done at universities. With all of the other distractions this fall, climate change could be rolled into next year.
The House is scheduled to take up its version of the higher education reconciliation measure next week. The bill would formally terminate the federal guaranteed student loan program, direct some portion of the savings that would be generated into beefing up the Pell Grant program, and alter other federal student loan programs. The Senate has not marked up its bill, but it is very likely a final measure will be enacted before Congress adjourns later this year.
The FY 2010 appropriations bills are on deck as well. The House passed all 12 of its bills before the August recess. The Senate has only passed a handful and with just three weeks remaining before the start of FY 2010, a Continuing Resolution is a certainty. Some of the bills, such as the defense appropriations bill, will probably move through regular order, but more than likely an omnibus bill, where several of the appropriations measures are bundled into one vehicle, will be necessary. Completion of the FY 2010 appropriations process by Oct. 30 is optimistic, but may be doable.
