In the News

The Senate voted last week for a six-year extension of federal programs for highways, mass transit and infrastructure while acknowledging it needs to come up with more money to pay for the entire bill.

Senators voted 65-34 for the highway bill, setting the stage for a debate in the fall with the House over infrastructure needs and how to pay for them.

The six-year Senate bill would authorize $350 billion in spending, enough only to cover three years. Still, it was considered the most ambitious effort to enact a long-term highway bill since 2005.

Among other options, committees in the House and Senate are working on tax reform bills that lawmakers hope might yield additional revenue that could be pumped into patching the nation’s aging infrastructure. Most have ruled out increasing the federal gasoline tax.

With the latest highway bill about to expire, the House and Senate passed a three-month extension to tide over federal road programs while they negotiate a longer-term bill. It was the 34th short-term extension of highway funding since 2009 as lawmakers have been unable to compromise on anything of longer duration.

Supporters of the six-year bill said it was important to pass a bill that would allow states and contractors the certainty needed to plan major projects. Opponents said the bill was put together using budget gimmicks that will not be sustainable.

Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., voted for the bill. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., voted against it.

Export-Import Bank reauthorized

Senators voted 64-29 for a highway bill amendment to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank, setting up a confrontation in the fall with the House where key Republican leaders are not sold on the bank staying in business.

Republican conservatives and the party’s candidates for president decry the credit agency as an example of “crony capitalism” for the money it loans to exporters and overseas customers to help finance the sale of U.S. products. But bank supporters say it is a vital tool to maintain U.S. exports and the jobs they support, and to keep pace with foreign sales competitors.

The charter of the Export-Import Bank expired at the end of June after Congress was unable to resolve the issue. It is prohibited from making new loans although it is allowed to maintain ones it already approved.

Boozman and Cotton voted against renewing the Export-Import Bank.

VA workforce bill passed

The House voted 256-170 to make it easier for the Department of Veterans Affairs to fire corrupt or non-performing workers.

The “VA Accountability Act” broadened a law enacted last year that gave the VA secretary more authority to fire agency executives. The legislation stems from the 2014 scandal in which it was discovered that patient appointment records were being manipulated at a number of VA health centers to cover up long delays.

The latest bill speeds the process by which a fired employee must appeal and have the Merit Systems Protection Board issue a ruling. It also limits the time a worker can be on paid administrative leave and extends the probationary period for new employees from a year to 18 months.

At the same time, sponsors said it would increase whistleblower protections for workers reporting wrongdoing.

“With the scandals at the VA medical centers and reports of whistleblower retribution, it has become evident that there are more bad apples than we would like to believe,” said Rep. Phil Roe, R-Tenn.

Roe said the bill would give the VA secretary flexibility “to remove these bad actors and send a message about the type of performance that we expect for our veterans.”

Opponents said the bill would strip due process rights from VA employees.

Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Pa., said it would “transform 300,000 VA personnel to what we call at-will employees, capable of being fired based on anything, including their beliefs and not their merit necessarily. It effectively destroys the civil service as it is and as we know it at the VA.”

Reps. Rick Crawford, R-Jonesboro, French Hill, R-Little Rock, Bruce Westerman, R-Hot Springs and Steve Womack, R-Rogers, voted for the bill.

House passes anti-regulation bill

The House voted 243-165 to revive a bill giving Congress more power over costly regulations. It was called the REINS Act — Regulations from the Executive In Need of Scrutiny Act.

The measure championed by Republicans reflects the view that federal regulations have gotten out of control. It would require that any federal rule having an economic impact of $100 million or more must be approved by Congress.

The bill has passed the House before but did not advance in the Senate. President Barack Obama has threatened a veto if it ever did.

“Whether it’s IRS rules, Obamacare mandates or EPA regulations, there are no shortage of examples where bad regulation could have been avoided if federal agencies and Congress were held responsible for the harm done to people’s jobs and wages,” said Rep. Todd Young, R-Ind.

All but two Democrats voted against the bill. They said it would make it all but impossible for the government to propose and carry out necessary health or safety measures.

Crawford, Hill, Westerman and Womack voted for the bill.