Instead, much of the lame duck was used for nomination hearings and the renaming of post offices. But with just hours before crucial legislation expired, Congress acted with haste to reauthorize provisions and laws, which are outlined below.
CRomnibus Bill
Late in the evening Thursday night, just hours before the government was set to shut down, the House passed a $1.1 trillion continuing resolution (CR) and omnibus spending bill that would continue until September 2015. The package, which seemed to have bipartisan support earlier that morning, only to begin to fall apart in the afternoon, passed by a slim margin of 13 votes. The controversial bill contained a large number of riders and provisions that were unrelated to funding the government.
Democrats found sticking points on changes to Dodd-Frank legislation and campaign finance rules, while some Republicans didn’t feel it went far enough to address President Obama’s action on immigration. The passage of the bill successfully reverses requirements that banks “push out” some of derivatives trading into separate entities that aren’t backed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). This provision had already drawn remarks from Senators, most notably Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), saying they would not vote for the bill if such a change was included. Also included in Senators’ objections to the bill is an increase in the amount of political donations donors can make to the national parties. The legislation raises contribution amounts to ten times their current limits. The Senate gave themselves a two-day extension by passing a short-term CR late Thursday to debate and vote on the 1,603-page bill. Just after the House vote, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Chairwoman of Senate Appropriations, Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) both expressed their hopes on passage of the bill in the Senate.
Terrorism Insurance
Tucked away into the landslide reauthorization of Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, which the House passed by a vote of 417-7 on Wednesday, was an amendment regarding derivative “end user” margin requirements. If the Senate agrees to reauthorize it, non-financial institutions would no longer be bound by the same regulations that govern big banks. A change in these requirements has been a leading focus for the Coalition for Derivatives End Users and FEI alike as they have pushed for more relaxed regulation of non-financial derivative users.
Tax Extenders
It’s been a little over a week since the House passed some 50 provisions in the $42 billion “tax extenders” bill and sent it to the Senate. This one-year extension, which expires at the end of this year, came after a veto threat from the White House putting an end to discussions to make several of the provisions, including the research and development (R&D) tax credit, permanent. While a retroactive, one-year extension is not what most in the business community were hoping for, there is hope, looking forward to next year, that permanency was being discussed among House and Senate leadership. Senate Finance Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) had been working with fellow democrats on a two-year extension for many of the provisions, but shortly after House passed the bill, he conceded there didn’t “appear to be a procedural path forward,” all but confirming the House one-year version would become law. With the House leaving town after passing the spending bill, an emergency session to pass an amended extenders bill is even more unlikely. The one year extension puts the extenders back up for a vote starting in the 114th Congress, potentially opening the possibility of making many of them permanent as part of broader tax reform.
National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)
On Dec. 4, the House passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for the 53rd consecutive time. This year’s NDAA is $585 billion with $521 billion set aside for the Defense Department and another $64 billion for overseas operations. In the midst of cuts to Tricare, military commissaries subsidies, and housing subsidies, it includes energy provisions for public land use. The designation of parks and wilderness areas would expedite the permit process in drilling for oil and gas. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) in a statement on Wednesday called the provisions “offensive” and an “extreme land grab.” Included in the overseas operation appropriation is $6.6 billion to fund operations to fight ISIS, per request of the White House, entailing the deployment of U.S. troops to train Iraqi forces. Leadership in the House Armed Services Committee stressed that the bill does not authorize the use of military force in Syria or Iraq, instead emphasizing training and equipping missions. The House approved version of the bill was sent to the Senate and a vote is expected late Friday.
Taylor Johnson is an intern with FEI's Government Affairs office in Washington D.C.