Congressional Roundup
Congressman Gary Miller, Representing California’s 42nd District

July 22, 2011

This Week in Congress:

Cut, Cap, and Balance – On Tuesday, July 19, the House approved H.R. 2560, the Cut, Cap, and Balance Act, by a vote of 234-190. The Cut, Cap, and Balance Act would limit discretionary budget authority to $1.019 trillion in FY 2012, a reduction of $30.38 billion below the FY 2011 amount. The bill would limit FY 2012 outlays to $1.224 trillion. Excluding funding for Defense, Homeland Security, and Military Construction/Veterans Affairs, discretionary budget authority for FY 2012 would be reduced below FY 2008 levels. However, these levels would serve as discretionary spending ceilings – not floors. This means Congress would still have the authority to lower discretionary spending even further. H.R. 2560 would provide for discretionary authority to be adjusted to $126 billion in FY 2012 for spending related to the global war on terrorism. In addition, the bill places caps on total spending after FY 2012 as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as estimated by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), reaching 19.9 percent by fiscal year 2021. If spending caps are breached, automatic spending cuts would be implemented. Finally, the bill prohibits the Secretary of Treasury from increasing the debt limit until the Archivist of the United States transmits to the states a qualifying Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution that has been approved in both chambers of Congress and is ready to be presented to the states for ratification. Under the legislation, a qualifying amendment would include a balanced budget amendment containing a spending limitataion as a percentage of GDP and requires that any vote to increase taxess be approved by a two-thirds vote of the House and Senate.

FAA Reauthorization – On Wednesday, July 20, the House approved H.R. 2553 by a vote of 243-177. The Airport and Airway Extension Act of 2011 Part IV would extend through September 16, 2011, the authorities of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which are currently set to expire July 22, 2011. The bill extends the authority to expend funds from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund through September 17, 2011. In addition, the bill would authorize $3.38 billion to be appropriated for the Airport Improvement Program for the period beginning October 1, 2010 and ending September 16, 2011. The House recently approved a short-term extension by unanimous consent on June 24, 2011. On February 27, 2011, the Senate approved S. 232, a full FAA authorization bill by a vote of 87-8. The House approved an alternative version, H.R.658, the FAA Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2011, by a vote of 223-196 on April 1, 2011. A conference committee is expected to resolve differences between the two legislative proposals soon.

Consumer Financial Protection Reforms – On Thursday, July 21, the House approved H.R. 1315 by a vote of 241-173. The Consumer Financial Safety and Soundness Improvement Act of 2011 would establish a bipartisan, five-member Commission (consisting of a Chairman and four additional members) to carry out the duties that under current law fall to the unelected, unaccountable Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The bill also makes important structural reforms to the CFPB and improves the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) review process of the CFPB’s rulemaking. The bill also amends Section 1062 of the Dodd-Frank Act to delay any further transfer of powers to the CFPB until the date on which the Chair of the Commission of the Bureau is confirmed by the Senate. The CFPB was established by the Dodd-Frank Act as an independent agency within the Federal Reserve, but was designed in a manner that escapes oversight and accountability. Under current law, the CFPB’s director will have the sole authority to spend hundreds of millions of dollars without congressional approval and have sweeping authority to decide which financial products and services are available to consumers and job creators.

FY 2012 Legislative Branch Appropriations – On Friday, July 22 the House approved H.R. 2551 by a vote of 252-159. The Legislative Branch Appropriations Act of 2012 provides $3.32 billion in discretionary budget authority for all non-Senate Legislative Branch activities, which represents a decrease of $227 million, or 6.4 percent, from the FY 2011 enacted level and a decrease of $472 million, or 12.4 percent, from the President’s requested level. Traditionally, the House and Senate determine their own funding separately and concur with each other’s funding level in a conference committee. According to the House Report which accompanies the legislation, the Senate appropriations estimate is $1.058 billion, bringing the total amount of discretionary budget authority for all Legislative Branch activity to approximately $4.38 billion in FY 2012. H.R. 2551 reduces spending in this title by 9 percent from FY 2010 spending levels, returning this Subcommittee’s spending levels to $111 million below FY 09 levels. This marks the largest-ever, two-year reduction for this bill, totaling $329 million.

Next Week (for the week beginning July 25):

FY 2012 Department of Interior Appropriations — Next week, the House is scheduled to consider H.R. 2584, the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. The bill includes a total of $19.9 billion in funding for the agencies, nearly $2 billion below last year’s level, and $6 billion below the President’s FY 2012 funding request. It should also be noted the bill is $700 million below the FY 2008 spending level. The bill provides funding for a number of agencies, including the Department of Interior, the EPA, the Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Indian Health Service, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Smithsonian. The bill contributes to an overall level of discretionary budget authority of $1.019 trillion for FY 2012, a reduction of $30.3 billion below FY 2011.

Energy Security — The House is also expected to consider H.R. 1938, the North American-Made Energy Security Act. The bill would expedite a final decision on the Keystone XL pipeline, a project that would allow millions of barrels of Canadian oil supplies to flow into U.S. markets. Specifically, the legislation would require the President to issue a final Presidential Permit decision by November 1, 2011. Completion of the pipeline extension would increase America’s access to safe and secure energy supplies. The project would more than double the current pipeline’s capacity, bringing more than 1.2 million barrels per day into U.S. markets and creating more than 100,000 American jobs.

Protecting Jobs from Government — Finally, the House next week is scheduled to consider H.R. 2587, the Protecting Jobs from Government Interference Act. The bill would prohibit the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) from ordering an employer to restore or reinstate any work or employee, or from requiring investment in a particular plant or facility. This legislation is in response to a complaint filed in April 2011 by the NLRB against Boeing for its decision to locate a production facility in South Carolina – a right-to-work state. The NLRB is seeking to force the company to keep its production in Washington State, where the workforce is unionized. This bill will prevent federal bureaucrats from reversing business decisions of employers, giving them the certainty they need to expand and create new jobs.

Cut, Cap, and Balance

• Hitting the debt limit is just a symptom of the real problem – we have too much debt.
• By racking up a national debt of $14.3 trillion, Washington has mortgaged the future of every American child born today to the tune of $46,000.
• Over the last two years, Washington Democrats have recklessly pursued an ideological agenda that has accumulated more than $3.5 trillion in new debt.
• By the end of the year, our national debt will grow larger than our entire economy.
• Investors and job creators know that massive government spending and debt will inevitably lead to inflation, higher borrowing costs, and tax increases.
• These fears have the private sector playing defense, taking fewer risks, and creating fewer jobs.
• Raising the debt limit without a credible plan to get the budget into balance and restrict future government overspending will continue to hinder job creation and future economic growth.
• Washington’s refusal to deal with the debt has endangered America’s AAA credit rating
• According to credit rating agencies S%P and Moody’s, even if the debt limit is raised today, the U.S. will lose its AAA credit rating without real, long-term debt reduction.
• Cut, Cap, and Balance makes the essential cuts and reforms needed to get the debt under control and protect the economy from a loss of our stellar credit rating.
• Based on the Congressional Budget Office’s March baseline, the Cut, Cap, Balance Act saves $111 billion in Fiscal Year 2012 and around $5.8 trillion over ten years.
• The Act also enacts enforceable caps on spending to reduce the size of government. Breaking the caps triggers automatic spending cuts.
• Cut, Cap, and Balance would grant the President’s request for an increase in the debt limit only after Congress has cut up the nation’s credit cards by passing a Balanced Budget Amendment.
• 49 states currently have some form of requirement to balance their budgets – and so should the federal government.
• A Balanced Budget Amendment will force some much needed discipline on the federal government.
• While spending cuts made today can vanish tomorrow and promises to cut future spending can be broken, a Balanced Budget Amendment is permanent.
• Cut, Cap, and Balance finally forces Washington to do what families and businesses must do every day – balance the budget.
• Unfortunately, President Obama has stated that he would veto the Cut, Cap and Balance Act. In fact, he has said, “we don’t need a constitutional amendment to do our jobs.” This President clearly does. Since he took office in January 2009, the debt has soared by $3.7 trillion.
• To put that into perspective – it took the United States from 1776 to 1992 to accumulate the same amount of debt that President Obama has accumulated in two and a half years.
• Now is the time to act. America cannot afford to wait any longer.
• Cut, Cap, and Balance will create a future of better opportunities for our children.
• Paying down the debt will mean lower taxes, more jobs, and a brighter future for hardworking American families.

Reforming the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

• The Dodd-Frank Act created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) as an independent agency within the Federal Reserve – ensuring that there would be virtually no oversight of this powerful new bureaucracy.
• Its status within the Fed precludes presidential oversight, and thee Fed is by law prohibited from “intervening” in CFPB affairs. Furthermore, the CFPB budget is not subject to congressional oversight.
• Unlike most independent agencies, the CFPB is led by a single unelected, unaccountable Director with sweeping decision-making authority to ban certain financial services or products that consumers and small businesses may obtain from credit providers.
• While the Dodd-Frank Act does allow the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) to review rules issued by the agency, the requirements they must fulfill to do so make it nearly impossible.
• Currently, the FSOC may only review proposed CFPB rules if it would threaten the entire U.S. financial system, and a 2/3s of the FSOC must vote to overturn a CFPB rule.
• Beginning this week, the CFPB will assume consumer protection responsibilities from seven federal agencies despite the lack of a Senate-confirmed Director, as required by the Dodd-Frank Act
• The House approved this week H.R. 1315, a bill that will bring accountability, transparency, and oversight to the CFPB and make it less onerous to repeal rules that could endanger the U.S. financial system.
• The House bill replaces the CFPB director with a bipartisan commission of five members, who will be presidentially-appointed and subject to Senate confirmation.
• H.R. 1315 establishes a meaningful review process of CFPB rules, by requiring only a simple majority of the FSOC to stop proposed rules that endanger the safety and soundness of U.S. financial institutions.
• These important reforms will enhance consumer protection and promote certainty for our economy by ensuring that rules issued by the CFPB are consistent and do not endanger the safety and soundness of financial institutions.
• H.R. 1315 replaces the Dodd-Frank Act’s unaccountable agency led by an unelected bureaucrat with the authority to limit consumer choice, reduce credit to our nation’s job creators, and increase the cost of credit with a bipartisan commission that will ensure that different points of view are considered before rules are proposed or action is taken by the CFPB.
• While House Republicans support consumer protection, we do not need another unaccountable Administration credit “czar.”