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Federal Government
Washington Briefing
November 14, 2011
UPDATES
- Congress is on recess and will return on November 29th
- December 7th: The Water Resources and Environment Committee may hold hearing on the State Revolving Fund program and other water programs.
- December 7th: The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee may hold a hearing on the Gulf Oil Spill fines.
Listed below are highlights of legislative activities occurring in Washington the week of November 14, 2011. Due to the magnitude of legislative business considered by Congress, it is not a comprehensive accounting.
Congress averted a government shutdown by passing a smaller spending package, HR 2112, that extends operations through December 16, 2011 at current levels. President Obama will sign the legislation tomorrow.
Appropriations Update
The conference committee cleared the first minibus, HR 2112, which included three of the 12 annual appropriations bills. The $128 billion legislation provides budgets for Agriculture, Commerce-Justice-Science and Transportation-HUD.
Highlights:
- Transportation
- $500 million provided for National Infrastructure Investments (the Tiger program).
- Agreement does not include funding for High Speed Rail.
- Federal Highway Program provided $39.9 billion with an additional $1.66 billion to rebuild federal highways damaged by major natural disasters.
- $2.1 billion provided for the Federal Transit Administration (FTA).
- HUD
- The Community Development Block Grant program is funded at $2.9 billion.
- Agreement allows up to a total of $300 million to be used on eligible disaster recovery activities in the areas most affected and distressed by natural disasters this year.
The remaining nine spending bills have an unclear fate, so Congress is planning to wrap the bills up into a single measure called an omnibus.
Transportation Update
As reported in last week’s Washington Briefing, Speaker Boehner convened a press release to unveil a new transportation package that would reauthorize surface transportation. Details are still sketchy, but Speaker Boehner continues to report that the five-year legislation will be introduced in December, and will include several energy production measures. However, when pressed about the top-line spending figure, Speaker Boehner did not have a response.
Government Withholding Relief (3% Withholding Tax Repeal)
As reported in last week’s Washington Briefing, CDM Smith urged passage of the 3% repeal. We are pleased that Congress fully repealed the 3% Withholding Tax mandate enacted in the tax code.
Gulf Coast Oil Spill Update
Congressman Scalise and Senator Landrieu are pushing a measure to direct oil spill fines to gulf coast states.
In the Senate, Senator Landrieu received a bit of pushback pertaining to the $1.2 billion over 10 years that the general fund would lose if oil spill fines were directed to the 5 states: LA, TX, MS, AL, and FL. Therefore, this bill will require offsetting that amount from another agency. Landrieu understands this and will still push the legislation.
In the House, the bill must be approved by the Transportation and Infrastructure committee. The hearing may take place 12/7/11. All told, we are optimistic that this measure will pass. Speaker Boehner is supportive as long as the 5 state delegations are in accord.
Contact: Robin Black, Director of Government Relations at blackrn@cdmsmith.com.
