1. law, govt and politics
2. government
3. courts and judiciary

Congressional Schedule
The House and Senate are in session this week.
Tuesday, April 21st
Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs
•
Full Committee hearing on “Surface Transportation Reauthorization: Building on the Successes
of MAP-21 to Deliver Safe, Efficient and Effective Public Transportation Services and Projects.”
Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry
•
Full Committee hearing on “Opportunities and Challenges for Agriculture Trade with Cuba.”
Wednesday, April 22nd
House Committee on Natural Resources
• Full Committee hearing on “Innovations in Safety Since the 2010 Macondo Incident.”
Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works
•
Full Committee hearing on the nomination of Vanessa Sutherland to be a member and
chairwoman of the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board.
House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
•
Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment hearing on “A Review of the President's FY
2016 budget request for the United States Army Corps of Engineers and Tennessee Valley
Authority.”
House Committee on Agriculture
•
Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management hearing on the
reauthorization of the U.S. Grain Standards Act.
• Subcommittee on Livestock and Foreign Agriculture hearing on reauthorization of the Livestock
Mandatory Reporting Act.
House Committee on Oversight
•
Subcommittee on Interior hearing on “Examining the Department of Energy’s Excess Uranium
Management Plan.”
Senate Committee Energy and Natural Resources
•
Full Committee hearing on reauthorization of and potential reforms to the Land and Water
Conservation Fund.
House Committee on Appropriations
•
Full Committee markup of the FY 2016 Energy and Water Appropriations bill, the FY 2016
Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations bill, and a report on the sub-allocation
of budget allocations for FY 2016.
Senate Committee on Appropriations
•
Subcommittee on Energy and Water hearing on “The U.S. without Nuclear Power.”
Thursday, April 23rd
House Committee on Science, Space and Technology
•
Full Committee hearing on “Hydraulic Fracturing: Banning Proven Technologies on Possibilities
Instead of Probabilities.”
House Committee on Education and the Workforce
•
Subcommittee on Workforce Protections hearing on “Protecting America's Workers: An
Enforcement Update from the Mine Safety and Health Administration.”
House Committee on Natural Resources
•
Subcommittee on Federal Lands hearing on “The Devastating Impacts of Wildland Fires and the
Need to Better Manage our Overgrown, Fire-prone National Forests.”
House Committee on Energy and Commerce
•
Subcommittee on Energy and Power hearing on “Title II 21st Century Workforce,” focusing on
the energy and manufacturing workforce.
Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs
•
Full Committee hearing on “Surface Transportation Reauthorization: Building on the Successes
of MAP-21 to Deliver Safe, Efficient and Effective Public Transportation Services and Projects.”
Senate Committee on Appropriations
•
Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies hearing on the
proposed budget estimates and justification for FY 2016 for Defense Department military
construction and military family housing programs.
News:
House T&I Committee Marks Up Bill to Slow WOTUS Rule
Last week, the House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee voted 36-22 to approve H.R.
1732, a bill sponsored by House T&I Chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA) and Water and Environment
Subcommittee Chair Bob Gibbs (R-OH), to require the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the
Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) to withdraw their current proposed rule defining what “waters of the
U.S.” (WOTUS) will be jurisdictional under the federal Clean Water Act (CWA), and begin an extensive
new consultation with states, industry and others over the scope of the CWA to develop a new proposed
rule.
The Committee amended the bill by inserting language to protect states' “primacy” over water rights
law, an amendment offered by Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA) who ultimately voted against the
measure. Critics of the WOTUS rule claim that EPA did not fully consider the over 1 million comments
they received on the rule, which they say expands the jurisdiction of the CWA beyond what Congress
originally intended.
The House Appropriations Committee's FY2016 Energy and Water Development spending bill also
includes language that would block the WOTUS rule, while also preserving existing CWA exemptions for
agricultural operations (see article below).
In the Senate, Senators on the Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee are planning to
introduce their own CWA legislation soon that will add “specificity” to the House legislation that would
force the agencies to re-propose the WOTUS rule with guidelines to ensure that any new waters rule be
different than the version the agencies proposed last April.
Meanwhile, the Obama Administration plans to finalize their proposed WOTUS rule sometime this
“spring”, according to top water official Ken Kopocis, Deputy Assistant Administrator for the EPA Office
of Water. The WOTUS rule (which EPA now calls the “Clean Water Rule”) is currently at the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) for final review and approval. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy has,
as recently as last week, tried to reassure stakeholders that the final rule will include key changes, with
“no surprises”, as a result of the many comments and concerns the agencies have received during the
extensive public comment period on the proposal.
House - Senate Republicans Reintroduce Water Rights Protection Legislation
Last week, Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) and Rep. Scott Tipton (R-CO) reintroduced the “Water Rights
Protection Act”, S. 982/H.R. 1830, a bill that would prevent the Departments of Interior and Agriculture
from conditioning land use permits on the transfer of privately held state-based water rights to the
federal government. Recent proposals, such as the Forest Service's groundwater directive which was
withdrawn this month to allow for additional outreach to Western states, have raised concerns in the
West that the federal government could use its permitting authority on federal lands as a way of
controlling water rights.
The bill passed the House last year but stalled in the Democratic-controlled Senate. Agriculture and the
ski areas on leased federal lands support the measure, while environmental groups oppose it due to
concerns about impacts to federally-required stream-flows for recreation and the environment.
House Energy and Water Development Subcommittee Approves FY2016 Appropriations Bill
Last week, the House Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development
passed their version of the FY2016 Energy and Water Appropriations Bill without objection. This
legislation contains funding for the Department of Energy, Army Corps of Engineers, and the Bureau of
Reclamation, among others. Full committee markup of the measure is scheduled for Wednesday of this
week.
The bill totals $35.4 billion; $1.2 billion above the FY 2015 enacted levels and $633 million below the
President’s FY16 request. Specifically, the bill provides the following funding levels for the agencies,
although account level details have not been released in advance of this week’s full committee markup:
Army Corps of Engineers:
•
$5.6 billion- a $142 million increase above the FY 2015 enacted level and $865 million above the
President’s budget request; and specifically,
• $2.4 billion for navigation projects and studies and $1.6 billion to support flood and storm
damage reduction activities, including $310 million for the most critical dam safety
improvements.
Energy Programs:
•
•
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$10.3 billion- a $64 million increase above FY 2015 enacted level and $1.3 billion below the
President’s budget request; and specifically,
$605 million for research and development to advance coal, natural gas, oil, and other fossil fuel
technologies, an increase of $34 million over the FY 2015 enacted level;
$936 million for nuclear energy research and development and demonstration, an increase of
$23 million over the FY 2015 enacted level; and
•
$1.7 billion for renewable energy programs, a decrease of $279 million from the FY 2015
enacted level.
Bureau of Reclamation:
•
$1.1 billion- a decrease of $35 million below the FY 2015 enacted level and $1 million below the
President’s budget request to help manage, develop, and protect the water resources of
Western states.
Other Policy Provisions:
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•
•
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Prohibits the Corps from making any changes to federal jurisdiction (WOTUS rule) under the
Clean Water Act;
Prohibits any changes to the definition of “fill material” and “discharge of fill material” for the
purposes of the Clean Water Act;
Restricts the application of the Clean Water Act to regulate certain agricultural areas, including
farm ponds and irrigation ditches; and,
Includes language allowing the possession of firearms on Army Corps of Engineers lands.