Weekly Washington Outlook — June 29, 2015
What to Watch This Week:
Congress:
House:
The House is in recess, returning the week of July 6.
Senate:
The Senate is in recess, returning the week of July 6.
White House:
On Monday, the president will host a working dinner with President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil at the White House.
On Tuesday, President Obama will host a bilateral meeting with President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil at the White House. This meeting will be followed by a joint press conference.
On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, the president will attend meetings at the White House.
On Saturday, the president and the first lady will celebrate the Fourth of July by hosting military heroes and their families for an Independence Day celebration with a barbeque, concert and a view of fireworks on the South Lawn. Staff and their families from throughout the Administration will also attend this event for the concert and fireworks viewing.
After Recess:
Appropriations – Both chambers continue work on FY16 spending bills, but the final passage of all twelve remains unlikely, with Senate Democrats vowing to block all measures upholding sequestration funding levels. With the formal appropriations process untenable, few options to fund the government remain. Congress must pass something by October 1 and a continuing resolution is one possibility. House Republicans view a CR as less than ideal, with last minute measures to avoid government shutdown reflecting poorly on the majority. Another option is to revive work on a budget deal to appease Congressional Democrats into supporting the appropriations measures. A combination CR/Omnibus spending deal seems most likely.
Education – Attention remains on the Senate as members prepare to take up the “Every Child Achieves Act,” a bipartisan ESEA reauthorization, next week upon return from the Fourth of July recess. The business and civil rights community is continuing to work to get support for strengthening the bill’s accountability system for minority students and English Learners. The future of the H.R. 5, the House ESEA reauthorization, is still unclear.
Health – Last week the Supreme Court upheld the availability of federal subsidies to those purchasing healthcare through both state-run and federally-run Affordable Care Act exchanges. In anticipation of a ruling against the government, Congressional Republicans had developed several legislative proposals subsequently rendered unnecessary by the Court’s decision. However, attempts to repeal the ACA could continue, with a July 24 deadline for Republicans to decide whether or not to use reconciliation to repeal the tax and spending components of the healthcare law. Reconciliation requires a simple majority, but the president seems certain to veto any bill repealing major portions of the ACA.
