|
|
House Passes Bills to Reopen Interior, Environmental, and Other Agencies but Shutdown Drags On
The House last week passed separate appropriations bills covering various areas of government spending where appropriations have lapsed, including the Department of the Interior and Environmental Protection Agency. Unfortunately, these bills are unlikely to receive a vote in the Senate, much less a signature from President Trump.
The government shutdown is now in its fourth week, making it the longest government shutdown in the history of the United States.
Meanwhile, federal employees missed their first paycheck Friday morning. With a bimonthly pay schedule, the next missed paycheck will come in two weeks if there is still no resolution to the spending impasse.
Rumors have circulated that President Trump would declare a national emergency at the Southern border as justification to reallocate already appropriated federal dollars from the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, a move criticized as possibly illegal and politically caustic. President Trump stated Friday afternoon, however, that he would not do so "right now," and that Congress should come to an agreement. Moments later, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked a vote on an already-passed House bill to reopen the government - a bill identical to the one the Senate passed with unanimous consent just last month.
What comes next is anyone's guess.
For more information, please contact
Eric Heath
, Senior Policy Counsel for the Mississippi River Basin Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute
.
|
Congressional Committee Assignments Begin to Fall into Place
Now that the 116th Congress has convened in Washington, D.C., the House and the Senate are gradually putting together the puzzle pieces of which Members, new and old, will serve on which Committees and in what capacity.
In the Senate, the changes are moderate. With Republicans maintaining majority control and most incumbents retaining their seats in the November midterm elections, the Senate will look relatively similar to the 115th Congress. One notable shift is that Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has taken the role of chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, yielding the also powerful Senate Judiciary chairmanship in the process. Senator Grassley replaces former Senator Orin Hatch (R-Utah) as head of the Finance Committee; on Judiciary, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) has taken the place of Senator Grassley as chairman. On the Democratic side, Senator Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) will serve as ranking member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, an assignment that has drawn much ire from environmental groups and progressives due to the Senator's coal-friendly record on environmental issues. The full Republican assignments are available here, and the full Democratic assignments are available here. Subcommittee assignments are expected in the upcoming weeks.
On the House side, committee allocations are still coming together. There was a substantial amount of horse-trading that took place in the months leading up to the vote for Speaker of the House, with now-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) negotiating with various Democratic groups about committee assignments in exchange for support for her bid as speaker. She successfully rallied enough support from her fellow Democrats to claim the speaker's gavel, but it remains to be seen which seats will go to whom. Some early news about assignments to the Appropriations and Ways and Means Committees showed freshman losing out on bids for the two powerful House committees in favor of more senior Members. Full assignments for House Democrats and Republicans are expected in the coming weeks, with subcommittee assignments following in the weeks after that.
For more information, please contact
Eric Heath
, Senior Policy Counsel for the Mississippi River Basin Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute
.
|
Acting EPA Administrator Wheeler Formally Nominated by President Trump to Lead the Agency
After serving in the role on a temporary basis for the last six months, former energy lobbyist and current Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler has been formerly nominated by President Trump to lead the agency. Acting Administrator Wheeler now must face Senate approval to take the reins of the agency on a permanent basis.
Wheeler's past lobbying on behalf of coal companies has put him under great scrutiny from environmental groups and Democrats. He was named acting director after his predecessor, Scott Pruitt, resigned amidst seemingly endless ethics and financial scandals.
If Wheeler does not receive Senate approval, his time as acting administrator must be limited to 210 days. As it stands, however, he will almost certainly receive enough support for confirmation in the Republican-controlled Senate.
For more information, please contact
Eric Heath
, Senior Policy Counsel for the Mississippi River Basin Program at the Northeast-Midwest Institute
.
|
US Army Corps Extends Review Period of Brandon Road Draft Feasibility Study
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has extended the review period of "The Great Lakes and Mississippi River Interbasin Study (GLMRIS) - Brandon Road Integrated Feasibility Study and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) - Will County, Illinois."
The end of the review changed from January 7, 2019 to February 22, 2019. The report is posted to the project website
here.
For more information, please contact
Matt McKenna
, Director of the Great Lakes Washington Program, at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
|
|
This Week in Washington
The House and Senate are still finalizing committee and subcommittee assignments, so committee activity will be limited for the time being. The Northeast-Midwest Institute will monitor the assignments and provide an update on relevant committees when the information becomes available.
In the Senate:
In the House:
|
|
NEMWI: Strengthening the Region that Sustains the Nation
|
|
|
|
|
