THE DAILY WHIP: FRIDAY, APRIL 1, 2011

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For Immediate Release:

April 1, 2011

Contact:

Katie Grant, Daniel Reilly, 202-225-3130

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House Meets At: First Vote Predicted: Last Vote Predicted:

9:00 a.m.: Legislative Business

Five “One Minutes” per side

 9:30 a.m. 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

**Members are advised that votes could occur as early as 9:20 a.m. **

H.Res. 194 – Rule providing for consideration of H.R. 1255 – The “Government Shutdown Prevention Act” (Rep. Womack – Appropriations) (One Hour of Debate) The Rules committee has recommended a completely closed Rule that would provide for one hour of general debate equally divided between the majority and Minority Leaders or their designees. The Rule also allows one motion to recommit, with instructions. The Committee rejected both Democratic motions on party-line votes: a motion by Mr. McGovern to consider the bill under an open rule, and a motion by Mr. Hastings (FL) to strike out all text in the bill, except for Members, Senators, and the President not getting paid in the event of a government shutdown.

H.R. 1255 – The “Government Shutdown Prevention Act” (Rep. Womack – Appropriations) (One Hour of Debate) Text of the legislation can be found here. This legislation states that if the House has not received any message from the Senate providing for the Appropriations of Government for this fiscal year before April 6, 2011, H.R. 1 would be deemed as passed by the Senate, signed by the President and enacted into law. H.R. 1255 also prohibits the CAO of the House and the Secretary of the Senate from disbursing Salary payments for Members of Congress, and also prohibits the President from receiving his salary. It states that the President and Members cannot be disbursed a salary for every day that there is a lapse in appropriations, or if the debt ceiling prevents federal expenditures. 
 
This bill is unconstitutional and a waste of precious time that could otherwise be used to negotiate with the Senate and White House in an effort to keep Government operating. The Majority would make history by deeming that the Senate passed a bill which was already considered on the Senate floor and failed. Even the Member pay provision of the bill is meaningless because H.R. 1255 already would deem H.R. 1 passed, so no funding gap could exist, while hitting the debt ceiling would by definition prevent federal expenditures like Member salaries.

Complete Consideration of H.R. 658 - FAA Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2011 (Rep. Mica - Transportation and Infrastructure/Science and Technology/Judiciary) H.R. 658 is a four-year reauthorization that reduces the FAA’s annual funding to FY 2008 appropriations levels ($14.8 billion) for the remainder of FY 2011 and then each year through FY 2014. The legislation authorizes appropriations for airport planning and development and noise compatibility planning programs, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) air navigation facilities and equipment, FAA operations, and administrative expenses for certain airport programs.  The proposed funding cuts would devastate the FAA’s Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) air traffic control modernization effort and would harm safety-sensitive programs, while ignoring the Nation’s growing airport capital development needs. Additionally, the bill repeals a National Mediation Board (NMB) rule, finalized last year, which guarantees fair elections among workers when those workers are choosing whether or not to unionize. Under the current rule (which the bill would repeal), when determining whether a majority of workers want to join a union, the NMB must count only the ballots of workers who voted in the representation election, and will no longer count non-votes as votes against unionization.

There are five amendments that have recorded votes pending, including:

  • LaTourette/Costello Amendment (10 minutes). The amendment would strike section 903, which repeals a National Mediation Board (NMB) rule, finalized last year, which provides for union representation elections among airline and railroad workers covered by the Railway Labor Act. Democrats are urged to vote YES on this amendment. 

    Postponed Amendment Votes:
    Pearce Amendment
    Schiff/Sherman/Berman Amendment
    Sessions Amendment
    LaTourette/Costello Amendment
    Shuster Amendment
List of Amendments – List of amendments and summaries for H.R. 658
 
The Daily Quote

“ ‘Cut it or shut it’ was the mantra of activists at the rally hosted by the Tea Party Patriots, a national umbrella group, with some participants carrying signs demanding $100 billion in cuts or more in a spending bill for the remainder of the fiscal year. The current continuing resolution runs out April 8, but the impending deadline did not trouble the ralliers, who numbered fewer than 200.”

  -   Roll Call