Daily Digest

Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Daily Digest

HIGHLIGHTS

See Interim Résumé of Congressional Activity.

Senate

Chamber Action

Measures Introduced: Eleven bills and three resolutions were introduced, as follows: S. 21–31, S.J. Res. 3, S. Res. 6, and S. Con. Res. 4.

Pages S59–60





Measures Considered:





Budget Resolution--Agreement: Senate began consideration of S. Con. Res. 3, setting forth the congressional budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2017 and setting forth the appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal years 2018 through 2026.

Pages S31–45





During consideration of this measure today, Senate also took the following action:

By 51 yeas to 48 nays (Vote No. 1), Senate agreed to the motion to proceed to consideration of the concurrent resolution.

Pages S30–31





A unanimous-consent agreement was reached providing for further consideration of the concurrent resolution at approximately 10 a.m., on Thursday, January 5, 2017.

Page S71







Nominations Received: Senate received the following nominations:

Rebecca Emily Rapp, of Wisconsin, to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation for a term expiring July 13, 2019.

Glenn Fine, of Maryland, to be Inspector General, Department of Defense.

David J. Arroyo, of New York, to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for a term expiring January 31, 2022.

Brent Franklin Nelsen, of South Carolina, to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for a term expiring January 31, 2022.

Jessica Rosenworcel, of the District of Columbia, to be a Member of the Federal Communications Commission for a term of five years from July 1, 2015.

Michael P. Leary, of Pennsylvania, to be Inspector General, Social Security Administration.

Tulinabo Salama Mushingi, of Virginia, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Senegal, and to serve concurrently and without additional compensation as Ambassador to the Republic of Guinea-Bissau.

Carolyn N. Lerner, of Maryland, to be Special Counsel, Office of Special Counsel, for the term of five years.

Elizabeth A. Field, of the District of Columbia, to be Inspector General, Office of Personnel Management.

Robert P. Storch, of the District of Columbia, to be Inspector General of the National Security Agency.

Page S71







Messages from the House:

Pages S47–48







Measures Referred:

Page S48







Executive Communications:

Pages S48–59







Additional Cosponsors:

Page S60







Statements on Introduced Bills/Resolutions:

Pages S60–65







Additional Statements:

Page S47







Amendments Submitted:

Pages S65–71







Privileges of the Floor:

Page S71







Record Votes: One record vote was taken today. (Total--1)

Page S31







Adjournment: Senate convened at 12 p.m. and adjourned at 6:45 p.m., until 10 a.m. on Thursday, January 5, 2017. (For Senate's program, see the remarks of the Majority Leader in today's Record on page S71

Committee Meetings

(Committees not listed did not meet)

No committee meetings were held. [Page:D8]

House of Representatives

Chamber Action

Public Bills and Resolutions Introduced: 56 public bills, H.R. 238–293; and 7 resolutions, H.J. Res. 14–18; H. Con. Res. 4–5, were introduced.

Pages H93–96







Additional Cosponsors:

Page H98







Report Filed: A report was filed today as follows:

H. Res. 22, providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 26) to amend chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, to provide that major rules of the executive branch shall have no force or effect unless a joint resolution of approval is enacted into law, and providing for consideration of the resolution (H. Res. 11) objecting to United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 as an obstacle to Israeli-Palestinian peace, and for other purposes (H. Rept. 115–1).

Page H93







Speaker: Read a letter from the Speaker wherein he appointed Representative Thompson (PA) to act as Speaker pro tempore for today.

Page H55







Recess: The House recessed at 10:30 a.m. and reconvened at 12 noon.

Page H58







Suspensions: The House agreed to suspend the rules and pass the following measures:

Approving the location of a memorial to commemorate and honor the members of the Armed Forces who served on active duty in support of Operation Desert Storm or Operation Desert Shield: H.J. Res. 3, approving the location of a memorial to commemorate and honor the members of the Armed Forces who served on active duty in support of Operation Desert Storm or Operation Desert Shield;

Pages H62–63





Taxpayers Right-To-Know Act: H.R. 71, to provide taxpayers with an annual report disclosing the cost and performance of Government programs and areas of duplication among them;

Pages H63–65





Presidential Library Donation Reform Act of 2017: H.R. 73, to amend title 44, United States Code, to require information on contributors to Presidential library fundraising organizations;

Pages H65–67





Federal Advisory Committee Act Amendments of 2017: H.R. 70, to amend the Federal Advisory Committee Act to increase the transparency of Federal advisory committees;

Pages H67–70





GAO Access and Oversight Act of 2017: H.R. 72, to ensure the Government Accountability Office has adequate access to information; and

Pages H70–71





Thoroughly Investigating Retaliation Against Whistleblowers Act: H.R. 69, to reauthorize the Office of Special Counsel, to amend title 5, United States Code, and to provide modifications to authorities relating to the Office of Special Counsel.

Pages H71–74







Recess: The House recessed at 2:53 p.m. and reconvened at 4:15 p.m.

Page H86







Midnight Rules Relief Act of 2017: The House passed H.R. 21, to amend chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, and to provide for en bloc consideration in resolutions of disapproval for ``midnight rules'', by a recorded vote of 238 ayes to 184 noes, Roll No. 8.

Pages H74–86, H86–87





Rejected the Castor (FL) motion to recommit the bill to the Committee on the Judiciary with instructions to report the same back to the House forthwith with an amendment, by a yea-and-nay vote of 183 yeas to 236 nays, Roll No. 7.

Pages H84–86, H86





H. Res. 5, providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 21) was agreed to yesterday, January 3rd.



Meeting Hour: Agreed by unanimous consent that when the House adjourns today, it adjourn to meet at 10 a.m. tomorrow, January 5.

Page H87







Quorum Calls--Votes: One yea-and-nay vote and one recorded vote developed during the proceedings of today and appear on pages H86 and H87. There were no quorum calls.



Adjournment: The House met at 10 a.m. and adjourned at 6:02 p.m.

Committee Meetings

ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING; REGULATIONS FROM THE EXECUTIVE IN NEED OF SCRUTINY ACT OF 2017; RESOLUTION OBJECTING TO UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTION 2334 AS AN OBSTACLE TO ISRAEL-PALESTINIAN PEACE, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

Committee on Rules: Full Committee held an organizational meeting for the 115th Congress; and hearing on H.R. 26, the ``Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act of 2017''; and H. Res. 11, objecting to United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 as an obstacle to Israeli-Palestinian peace, and for other purposes. The committee adopted rules of procedure for the 115th Congress and subcommittee ratios. The committee granted, by voice vote, a structured rule for H.R. 26. The rule provides one hour of general debate equally divided and controlled by the Majority Leader and the Minority Leader or their respective designees. The rule waives all points of order against consideration of the bill. The rule provides that the bill shall be considered as read. The rule waives all points of order against provisions in the bill. The rule makes in order only those amendments printed in the Rules Committee report. Each such amendment may be offered only in the order printed in the report, may be offered only by a Member designated in the report, shall be considered as read, shall be debatable for the time specified in the report equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent, shall not be subject to amendment, and shall not be subject to a demand for division of the question. The rule waives all points of order against the amendments printed in the report. The rule provides one motion to recommit with or without instructions. Additionally, the rule grants a closed rule for H. Res. 11. The rule provides one hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. The rule waives all points of order against consideration of the resolution. The rule provides that the resolution shall be considered as read and shall not be subject to a demand for division of the question. Testimony was heard from Chairman Goodlatte, Chairman Royce of California, and Representatives Johnson of Georgia, Biggs, Young of Iowa, Engel, Connolly, and Price of North Carolina.

Joint Meetings



No joint committee meetings were held.

NEW PUBLIC LAWS

(For last listing of Public Laws, see Daily Digest, p. D1159

H.R. 6452, to implement the Convention on the Conservation and Management of High Seas Fisheries Resources in the North Pacific Ocean, to implement the Convention on the Conservation and Management of High Seas Fishery Resources in the South Pacific Ocean. Signed on December 16, 2016. (Public Law 114–327)

S. 2943, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2017 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year. Signed on December 23, 2016. (Public Law 114–328)

COMMITTEE MEETINGS FOR THURSDAY,

JANUARY 5, 2017

(Committee meetings are open unless otherwise indicated)

Senate

Committee on Armed Services: to hold hearings to examine foreign cyber threats to the United States, 9:30 a.m., SD–G50.

Committee on Foreign Relations: to receive a closed briefing on recent administration actions in response to Russian hacking and harassment of United States diplomats, 3 p.m., SVC–217.

Select Committee on Intelligence: closed business meeting to consider pending calendar business, 2 p.m., SH–219.

House

No hearings are scheduled.January 4, 2017* These figures include all measures reported, even if there was no accompanying Report. A total of 232 written reports have been filed in the Senate, 525 reports have been filed in the House.

Interim Résumé of Congressional Activity

SECOND SESSION OF THE ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH CONGRESS

The first table gives a comprehensive résumé of all legislative business transacted by the Senate and House.

The second table accounts for all nominations submitted to the Senate by the President for Senate confirmation.

DATA ON LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITY [Page:D10]

January 4, 2016 through January 3, 2017

SenateHouseTotal

Days in session

165131

. .



Time in session

780 hrs., 58633 hrs., 15

. .



Congressional Record:

Pages of proceedings



7,1847,641

. .



Extensions of Remarks



. .1,743

. .



Public bills enacted into law

72141

213



Private bills enacted into law

. .. .

. .



Bills in conference

22

. .



Measures passed, total

485659

1,144



Senate bills



9775

. .



House bills



141450

. .



Senate joint resolutions



11

. .



House joint resolutions



11

. .



Senate concurrent resolutions



137

. .



House concurrent resolutions



1727

. .



Simple resolutions



21598

. .



Measures reported, total

*329*495

824



Senate bills



24210

. .



House bills



49413

. .



Senate joint resolutions



. .. .

. .



House joint resolutions



. .2

. .



Senate concurrent resolutions



6. .

. .



House concurrent resolutions



15

. .



Simple resolutions



3165

. .



Special reports

1227

. .



Conference reports

33

. .



Measures pending on calendar

462144

. .



Measures introduced, total

1,4672,714

4,181



Bills



1,1222,224

. .



Joint resolutions



1329

. .



Concurrent resolutions



3278

. .



Simple resolutions



300383

. .



Quorum calls

. .1

. .



Yea-and-nay votes

163275

. .



Recorded votes

. .346

. .



Bills vetoed

23

. .



Vetoes overridden

11

. .



DISPOSITION OF EXECUTIVE NOMINATIONS

January 4, 2016 through January 3, 2017

Civilian nominations, totaling 354 (including 181 nominations carried over from the First Session), disposed of as follows:

Confirmed

91

Withdrawn

12

Returned to White House

251

Other Civilian nominations, totaling 2,412 (including 97 nominations carried over from the First Session), disposed of as follows:

Confirmed

2,367

Withdrawn

1

Returned to White House

44

Air Force nominations, totaling 7,568 (including 181 nominations carried over from the First Session), disposed of as follows:

Confirmed

7,495

Returned to White House

73

Army nominations, totaling 5,899 (including 1,740 nominations carried over from the First Session), disposed of as follows:

Confirmed

5,878

Returned to White House

21

Navy nominations, totaling 4,408 (including 5 nominations carried over from the First Session), disposed of as follows:

Confirmed

4,401

Withdrawn

2

Returned to White House

5

Marine Corps nominations, totaling 1,246 (including 3 nominations carried over from the First Session), disposed of as follows:

Confirmed

1,245

Returned to White House

1

Summary

Total nominations carried over from the First Session

2,207

Total nominations received this Session

19,680

Total confirmed

21,477

Total unconfirmed

0

Total withdrawn

15

Total returned to the White House

395

Next Meeting of the

SENATE

10 a.m., Thursday, January 5

Senate Chamber

Program for Thursday: Senate will continue consideration of S. Con. Res. 3, Budget Resolution.





















Next Meeting of the

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

10 a.m., Thursday, January 5

House Chamber

Program for Thursday: Reading of the Constitution of the United States by Members of the House of Representatives. Consideration of H.R. 26--Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act of 2017 (Subject to a Rule). Consideration of H. Res. 11--Objecting to United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 as an obstacle to Israeli-Palestinian peace (Subject to a Rule).

Extensions of Remarks, as inserted in this issue















HOUSE





Abraham, Ralph Lee, La., E21

Babin, Brian, Tex., E15

Beutler, Jaime Herrera, Wash., E20

Brady, Kevin, Tex., E19

Chaffetz, Jason, Utah, E15

Comstock, Barbara, Va., E17

Granger, Kay, Tex., E15

Grijalva, Raúl M., Ariz., E16

Gutiérrez, Luis V., Ill., E15

Huffman, Jared, Calif., E19, E21

Marchant, Kenny, Tex., E18

Moore, Gwen, Wisc., E18

Perlmutter, Ed, Colo., E17

Perry, Scott, Pa., E20

Speier, Jackie, Calif., E15, E16, E17, E18, E19, E19, E20, E22

Thompson, Mike, Calif., E17

