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Congressional legislation, July 4, 2016 – July 8, 2016
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It was a busy week on Capitol Hill for the United States House of Representatives. The lower chamber passed a financial services appropriations bill, which included an amendment to prevent Boeing from selling aircraft to Iran. The House also passed a major mental health and substance abuse bill, and a bill aimed at preventing opioid overdoses that was expected to be “one of Congress’s biggest achievements this year,” according to The Hill. The United States Senate was less productive, failing to move forward on a Department of Defense spending bill.
Monday July 4, 2016
- Congress was not in session in observance of Independence Day.
Tuesday, July 5
House
- The House passed HR 4855 - the Fix Crowdfunding Act by a vote of 394-4. The legislation proposed raising the amount of money a company can accept from crowdfunded sources from $1 million to $5 million. It also proposed modifying some rules related to crowdfunding.
- The House passed HR 4854 - the Supporting America's Innovators Act of 2016 by a vote of 388-9. The legislation proposed “increasing the investor limitation from 100 to 250 persons for qualifying venture capital funds.” The bill was proposed to allow start-up companies to more seek angel investors for funding.
Wednesday, July 6
White House
- President Barack Obama signed into law HR 3114 - To provide funds to the Army Corps of Engineers to hire veterans and members of the Armed Forces to assist the Corps with curation and historic preservation activities, and for other purposes.
Senate
- The Senate passed legislation regarding the labeling of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) by a vote of 65 to 32. The legislation proposed blocking state governments from passing mandatory labeling laws for consumer products that contain GMOs. The legislation also proposed allowing food producers to have QR codes for consumers to scan with a smartphone to find out whether a product contains GMOs. It was introduced after the Vermont Legislature in 2013 passed legislation to require labels for food productions with GMOs.
- The Senate rejected S 3100 - the Stop Dangerous Sanctuary Cities Act in a 53-44 procedural vote. Sixty votes were needed start debate on the legislation. It proposed prohibiting cities that do not comply with federal immigration laws, also labeled "sanctuary cities,” from receiving federal grant money.
House
- Key vote: The House passed HR 2646 - the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act of 2015 by a vote of 422-2. The legislation proposed creating the position of Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders to oversee the government’s mental health and substance abuse programs. It also proposed expanding and providing grants for mental health and substance abuse programs.
- The House passed HR 1270 - the Restoring Access to Medication Act of 2015 by a vote of 243-164. The legislation proposed allowing patients to pay for over-the-counter medications using health savings accounts without having to get a prescription from a doctor, which is currently required by a provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
- The House passed S 1252 - the Global Food Security Act of 2016 by a vote of 369-53. The legislation proposed requiring "the President to develop and implement a Global Food Security Strategy to promote global food security, resilience, and nutrition.” Funding from the legislation will go to Feed the Future, a global hunger and food security initiative. It passed the Senate on April 20, 2016.
Thursday, July 7
Senate
- Key vote: The Senate voted against moving forward with debate on HR 5293 - the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2017 by a vote of 50-44. Sixty votes were needed to begin debating the bill. The $576 billion defense spending bill “[p]rovides FY2017 appropriations to the Department of Defense (DOD) for military activities.”
House
- Key vote: The House passed HR 5485 - the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2017 by a vote of 239-185. The bill proposed providing $21.7 billion to operate “the Department of the Treasury, the Executive Office of the President, the judiciary, the District of Columbia, and several independent agencies.”
- Key vote: Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.) introduced two amendments to prevent Boeing from selling aircraft to Iran. They both passed by voice vote.
- Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) introduced an amendment that proposed reducing “the salary of the IRS Commissioner to $0 annually from date of enactment through January 20, 2017.” It failed by a vote of 197-224.
- The House passed HR 4361 - the Federal Information Systems Safeguards Act of 2016 by a vote of 241-181. The bill proposed requiring the head of each federal agency to take necessary actions to protect the agency’s information system and “reduce or eliminate a present or future security weakness and risk.”
Friday, July 8
House
- Key vote: The House passed S 524—To authorize the Attorney General and Secretary of Health and Human Services to award grants to address the national epidemics of prescription opioid abuse and heroin use, and to provide for the establishment of an inter-agency task force to review, modify, and update best practices for pain management and prescribing pain medication, and for other purposes—by a vote of 407-5.
