THE DAILY WHIP: WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012

Office of the Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer

DemocraticWhip.gov - (202) 225-3130

FLOOR SCHEDULE FOR WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012

[1]

House Meets At:

First Vote Predicted:

Last Vote Predicted:

12:00 p.m.: Morning Hour
2:00 p.m.: Legislative Business

Fifteen “One Minutes” per side

1:00 – 1:30 p.m.

9:00 – 10:00 p.m.

Suspension (1 Bill)

H.R. 5872 [2] – Sequestration Transparency Act of 2012 (Rep. Hensarling - Budget)

Begin Consideration of H.R. 5856 [3] – Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2013 (Rep. Young (FL) – Appropriations) H.R. 5856 appropriates $519.2 billion for regular programs at the Department of Defense, which is $1.1 billion more than total current funding and $3.1 billion more than the President’s request. The measure provides $88.5 billion in FY 2013 Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) funds, specifically to support operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and the general war on terrorism. The OCO total matches the President’s request.

The bill includes a total of $238.7 billion for operations and maintenance accounts, $110.4 billion for procurement, $70.1 billion for research and development, and $142.2 billion for military personnel accounts. The procurement total includes $17.5 billion for naval aircraft, $11.3 billion for Air Force aircraft and $15.3 billion for Navy shipbuilding. The measure also includes a military pay raise of 1.7%, which is equal to the President’s request and what was carried in the FY13 National Defense Authorization Act, and continues provisions prohibiting the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to the U.S.

Republicans are developing this year's spending bills based on the $1.028 trillion discretionary spending cap included in the Republican (Ryan) Budget Resolution rather than the $1.047 trillion cap agreed upon in last year's Budget Control Act. As a result, this bill leaves even less room for other agencies and programs in appropriations bills to be considered down the road, as Republicans try and ‘frontload’ some of the appropriations bills while still fitting under their cap.

The House passed the Rule for H.R 5856 in June. Today, the House will consider one hour of general debate and begin consideration of amendments to H.R. 5856.

Bill Text for H.R. 5856:
HTML Version [4]
PDF Version [5]
Background for H.R. 5856:
House Report (HTML Version) [6]
House Report (PDF Version) [7]

TOMORROW’S OUTLOOK
The GOP Leadership has announced the following schedule for Thursday, July 19: The House will meet at 12:00 p.m. for legislative business. The House is expected to continue consideration of H.R. 5856 - Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2013 (Rep. Young (FL) – Appropriations).

The Daily Quote

“…[A]fter the drop in Congress’ approval rating after last year’s fight over raising the debt ceiling, House Republicans wouldn’t dare prevent a continuing resolution from being adopted just a month before the elections. They might huff and puff, but blowing the House down and in the process reminding voters only weeks before they go to the polls how unhappy they were last August wasn’t thought of as an especially smart — and, therefore, likely — strategy. That prevailing opinion has begun to change as the political realities of the CR fight become clearer. In particular, there are growing doubts about the House GOP leadership’s ability to control the situation. Remember that, despite having a majority, House Republicans weren’t able to pass the 2011 continuing resolution without Democratic votes. Only 182 of the 241 Republicans voted in favor of the conference report. The question in 2012 is whether Democrats will be willing to supply the votes again if Republicans can’t get to a majority on their own. This is of growing concern because the only CR that might be acceptable to that many House Republicans is likely to have a spending level that House Democrats won’t agree to… In other words, pushing for an agreement with the Senate could cost the Speaker GOP votes in the House and he would have no guarantee that House Democrats would go along, as they did in 2011.”

- Stan Collender, Roll Call, 7/16/12

202DailyWhip071812.pdf [1]

THE DAILY WHIP: WEDNESDAY, JULY 18, 2012

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