Washington Recap - (Week of July 4)

Overview 

Deficit reduction/debt ceiling issues remained the overarching central focus of the President and Congress last week. The President opted out of invitations to separate caucus meetings and invited a bi-partisan, bi-cameral group of legislators to the White House for a session mid-week that gave rise to varying opinions about the prospects for agreement, although all sides generally recognized that time is beginning to run short. Speaker Boehner’s announcement on Saturday that he was abandoning efforts to reach a longer-term solution likely forces all parties into a series of negotiations over stopgap measures designed to keep the fiscal ship of state afloat until sometime after next years’ elections. The House, back in session after the July 4 recess, matched the show of purpose put forward by the Senate last week by canceling its next recess – originally scheduled for the week of July 18. Senate Democrats, continually belittled by Senate Republicans for having gone more than two years without producing a budget, allowed press reports to leak late in the week about the outline of a proposal from Senate Budget Committee Chairman Conrad (D-ND). The proposal, said to reduce deficits by close to $4 trillion over 10 years, relies on large defense spending cuts and increased taxes on the wealthy; Conrad said it shows “how easy” it is to attain deficit reduction “in a balanced manner.” On other policy fronts, Congressional reaction to EPA’s release of its final Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) followed predictable political and regional fault lines; Senator Inhofe was among the critics, Senator Carper among the supporters. The House Energy and Commerce Energy and Power Subcommittee marked up legislation that that establishes an interagency group to conduct a comprehensive analysis of costs associated with several regulations recently developed, or under development, by the EPA. 

Three short takes: 

• The NRC task force investigating the root causes of the nuclear emergency in Japan for lessons learned applicable to the U.S. nuclear safety program is scheduled to forward its recommendations to the Commission this week. A public meeting of the Commission to discuss the recommendations is scheduled for next week.
• The Exxon-Mobil pipeline spill in near Yellowstone Park is the impetus behind the latest hearings on pipeline safety issues; subcommittees in both the House Energy and Commerce and Transportation and Infrastructure Committees will hold separate inquires on Thursday and Friday of this week. House panels have still not scheduled action on legislation reauthorizing federal pipeline safety programs.
• The House Natural Resources Committee plans an oversight hearing on Friday that will examine the plans of the Department of Interior to promote and regulate offshore oil and gas development.