The Tap: Thursday, May 19, 2016

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The Tap covered election news, public policy, and other noteworthy events from February 2016 to February 2022.

Review of the day

The excerpts below were compiled from issue #17 of The Tap, which was published on May 21, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.

Federal

• The U.S. Supreme Court held a non-argument session in which the court announced opinions in Torres v. Lynch, Betterman v. Montana, and CRST Van Expedited Inc. v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

• Judges Rudolph Contreras and Anne Conway began seven-year terms on the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. Judge Rosemary Collyer was named presiding judge of the FISA court by Chief Justice John Roberts, succeeding Thomas Hogan as presiding judge.

• Judge Henry Hudson of the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Virginia wrote a memorandum opinion upholding Virginia’s voter identification law. Judge Hudson ruled that the law neither on its face nor in effect violated the Voting Rights Act or the First, Fourteenth, Fifteenth, or Twenty-Sixth Amendments.

• The Daily Caller reported on Thursday that billionaire David Koch has pledged “tens of millions of dollars” to support Gary Johnson’s presidential campaign. While a representative for Koch denied the story, an unnamed Libertarian Party leader said, “In the event that a Johnson/[Bill] Weld ticket emerges from the convention, a pathway is in place for significant funding from Koch, [Steve] Wynn and other large donors.” Johnson told The Washington Post, "To my knowledge, it's not happening. That's not to say it isn't, but it would be a surprise to me. We tried to talk to Kochs during the last cycle, and we couldn't do it. There are a lot of people who are expressing interest, in a big way, to be a part of this, but I'm not naming names. I can say that I haven't reached out to the Kochs."
  • See also: Libertarian National Convention, 2016
• Incumbent Mark Takai (D) of Hawaii’s 1st Congressional District announced that he would not be seeking re-election in 2016. He dropped out of the race due to his pancreatic cancer, which has spread. Takai is the 41st House incumbent to announce that he is not seeking re-election. Hawaii’s 1st Congressional District is rated safely Democratic in the general election.

Bills & Amendments

• Key vote: The Senate passed HR 2577 - the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016 by a vote of 89-8. The legislation merged two appropriations bills––S 2844 - the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017 and S2806 - the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017––and includes $1.1 billion in funding to fight the Zika virus. The transportation and housing bill includes more than $114 billion in funding, and the military and veterans bill includes more than $190 billion in funding.
  • The Senate and House have passed legislation to combat the spread of the Zika virus, but the bills differ. “The key difference between the competing versions is that House GOP conservatives insisted that spending cuts accompany the measure rather than adding its cost to the budget deficit. Obama and the Senate want to declare Zika an emergency and add the funding on top of current budget limits. The House bill also only provides enough money to fight Zika through the Sept. 30 end of the budget year,” according to ABC News. President Obama said that he will approve the Senate bill, but he threatened to veto the House bill.
• Key vote: The House passed HR 4974 - the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017 by a vote of 295-129.
  • Democrats shouted, "Shame!" on the House floor after some Republicans switched their votes on an amendment that proposed prohibiting the government from using contractors who discriminate against the LGBT community. The amendment failed 212-213.
  • The House passed an amendment to limit the display of the Confederate flag in national cemeteries. The amendment prohibits the government from flying the Confederate flag in cemeteries run by the Department of Veterans Affairs, but families are still allowed to place the flag on individual graves.

State

• Colorado Commissioner of Education Rich Crandall resigned effective immediately after serving only four months in office. Crandall assumed office on January 19, 2016, and replaced interim officeholder Elliott Asp, who was appointed to serve following former Commissioner Robert Hammond's April 2015 retirement. “The realities of my large family being out of state, including school age children, as well as the demands of the position...lead me to this decision,” Crandall said. Crandall's departure comes amid several other senior staff changes within the department, and at a stressful time for public education following President Obama's Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015, which shifts considerable power to develop educational standards from federal to state government. “Who they [the Board of Education] place in the interim position will be incredibly important,” commented president of the Colorado Education Association Kerrie Dallman. The board appointed Katy Anthes, previously the department’s chief of staff, as interim commissioner the following day.

Preview of the day

There were no items for this day in issue #16 of The Tap, which was published on May 14, 2016. See the "Review of the day" tab for more information.