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Stuff in the News: Water, Language, Clemency, Education, Malaysia

H.R. 2898, the Western Water and American Food Security Act of 2015 passed in the House on Thursday, July 16, 2015. H.R. 2898 attempts to alleviate water supply and agricultural issues in western states that have, in part, resulted from both the mismanagement of critical water resources and severe drought. The bill revises the regulatory framework that governs the movement and storage of water; encourages the development and more efficient use of private and public water storage and delivery systems; reforms the Federal rulemaking processes relating to water storage and delivery; and includes other provisions to alleviate water shortages facing Western states. Included in the bill are provisions from H.R. 2749, the Dams Accountability, Maintenance, and Safety Act, introduced by Congressman David Valadao (R-CA) and Congressman Cramer to allow the Bureau of Reclamation to develop additional project benefits – such as increasing storage capacity – when studying and carrying out dam safety projects.

This week, Rep. Joe Crowley (D-Queens, the Bronx), Vice Chair of the Democratic Caucus, joined Reps. David Price (D-NC), Leonard Lance (R-NJ) and Don Young (R-AK) in introducing the World Language Advancement Act (H.R. 3096), which would help state and local school districts implement innovative K-12 language programs. Soon, your child may be learning a foreign language as a required part of his or her education.

An amendment adopted on Tuesday by the House Appropriations Committee and authored by Congressman John Culberson (TX-07) prevents the release of dangerous illegal aliens back into the public. Culberson’s amendment, which is now part of the fiscal year 2016 Homeland Security Appropriations bill, stops federal law enforcement agencies from releasing any alien that falls into the “Priority 1” or “Priority 2 Categories” created by the Obama Administration last November. Illegal immigrants convicted of domestic violence, sexual assault, drug dealing, or gun offenses can no longer be released at the Administration’s discretion.

In the ongoing national effort to provide better opportunities for the nearly 400,000 young people in the U.S. foster care system, Congressman Danny K. Davis (D-IL) and Congresswoman Karen Bass (D-CA) have introduced the “Education Stability for Foster Youth Act,” legislation that would address some of the education challenges foster youth face when they enter the foster care system and are forced to change homes and schools or school districts.

A bipartisan group of 160 Members of Congress on Thursday, July 16, 2015 called on U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to not upgrade Malaysia in the U.S. Department of State’s soon-to-be-released 2015 Trafficking in Persons Report. Leading the effort were Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Sander Levin (D-MI), Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Eliot Engel (D-NY), Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT). Last week, Reuters reported that the State Department plans to upgrade Malaysia to the Tier 2 Watch List from Tier 3 in its Trafficking in Persons Report, although the country has failed to make substantive improvements in combating trafficking.

Stuff in the news: Postal Service, Patient Access, Energy, Education, Homosexual Blood Donations

U.S. Senator David Perdue (R-GA), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations State Department Subcommittee, has been calling for an independent review of a State Department proposal to construct a brand new training center in Virginia, instead of using an established federal training facility in Georgia that could save taxpayers millions of dollars. Senator Perdue led a joint Georgia Delegation letter requesting additional information from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and introduced a provision that was included in the State Department Authorization bill. Similar language was included in the Senate Appropriations process. Recently, Senator Perdue visited the FLETC facility in Brunswick, Georgia and continues to push for Congressional oversight of this process.

U.S. Senator Gary Peters (MI) joined his colleagues in introducing legislation to improve rural mail service and delivery and provide protections for post offices and postal employees in rural communities across the country. The Rural Postal Act of 2015 would place a two-year moratorium on postal mail processing facility closures, restore delivery standards and preserve six-day mail home delivery.

U.S. Senators Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), John Thune (R-S.D.), and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) introduced legislation to increase patient access to medical devices by removing government red tape. The Accelerating Innovation in Medicine (AIM) Act, authored by Portman and Heinrich, will streamline access to medical devices by giving patients the option to self-pay rather than going through the time-consuming Medicare coverage process. It will also allow doctors to present patients with more choices when deciding on the best care for them.

U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Al Franken (D-Minn.) introduced legislation, S.1755, to extend the Residential Energy Efficient Property Tax Credit (25D) by five years. The legislation would extend a successful tax credit that helps families pay for residential clean energy equipment, such as solar photovoltaics, solar hot water heaters, geothermal heat pumps, and small wind turbines.

Affirming his belief that every child should have access to a high quality education, U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC), a leading voice for school choice in the U.S. Senate, has offeredS.Amdt. 2132 to the Every Child Achieves Act (ECAA) to allow Title I funds to follow low-income children and strengthen educational options for their parents. Currently being debated on the Senate floor, the Every Child Achieves Act (ECAA) would reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the principal law governing the federal role in K-12 education.

United States Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Representatives Mike Quigley (D-IL) and Barbara Lee (D-CA), and 79 of their congressional colleagues sent a letter to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in response to the agency's draft guidance document, which, if finalized, would change the blood donation policy for men who have sex with men (MSM) from a lifetime ban to a one-year deferral from the donor's last sexual contact with another man. "While we appreciate the FDA's willingness to address this issue and release draft guidance to alter the current policy," the members wrote, "we continue to have deep concerns about many of the conclusions and statements made in the Draft, and about the lack of plan to move towards a fully risk-based system."

More Stuff in the news: Guns, North Korea, Energy, Education, Labeling Food

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) with NYPD Chief of Department James P. O’Neill, Everytown for Gun Safety, New Yorkers Against Gun Violence and Harlem Mothers Save today announced the introduction of bipartisan gun trafficking legislation aimed at cracking down on the daily flow of illegal guns on our nation’s streets. Authored along with Republican Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL), the Hadiya Pendleton and Nyasia Pryear-Yard Gun Trafficking & Crime Prevention Act of 2015 would make gun trafficking a federal crime to provide tools to law enforcement to get illegal guns off the streets, away from criminal networks and street gangs, and to prosecute those who traffic firearms. Just nine weeks ago, New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced the arrests of multiple members of an illegal gun smuggling ring under “Operation Redrum” which netted 93 guns ranging from 22 caliber pistols to assault weapons over a six-month period. The guns came from out of state and were trafficked through the Bronx. In 2013, 331 weapons recovered in New York State came from Georgia alone. According to NYPD, 90 percent of the guns used in New York City gun crimes come from out of state, including those used in the murders of Detectives Wenjian Liu, Rafael Ramos and Brian Moore. Just this week, gang violence was reportedly responsible for the shooting death of a father holding his one-year-old child. Currently, there is no federal law that defines gun trafficking as a crime.

U.S. Senators Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) and Bob Menendez (R-New Jersey) has introduced the 2015 North Korea Sanctions Act that would strengthen and expand sanctions against the regime in North Korea and those who might wish to assist them. The Senators introduced the bill following repeated violations of commitments by North Korea to end and dismantle its nuclear weapons development program and the perpetual brutal oppression on the vast majority of the North Korean people. Both Senators note that North Korea remains a significant threat to regional and global stability. (What makes Iran so special, then?)

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley made the following statement after the FBI acknowledged that inaccurate information was entered in the background check system and hindered follow-up analysis that should have prevented alleged Charleston shooter Dylann Roof from purchasing a firearm. “It’s disastrous that this bureaucratic mistake prevented existing laws from working and blocking an illegal gun sale. The facts undercut attempts to use the tragedy to enact unnecessary gun laws. The American people, and especially the victims' families, deserve better.”

U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), a member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, and U.S. Congressman Raúl M. Grijalva (Ariz.-03), the Ranking Member of the House Natural Resources Committee, unveiled the Tribal Tax Incentive for Renewable Energy Act, a bill the lawmakers will introduce today to allow tribal governments to take advantage of the existing federal renewable energy investment tax credit in the same way any private developer already does.

U.S. Senators Dean Heller (R-NV) and Joe Manchin’s (D-WV) amendment to the Every Child Achieves Act passed the United States Senate. This amendment requires governors of states to be consulted during the development of a state education plan to improve education and workforce readiness. It also includes a 30-day “shot clock” for a state’s governor to approve the plan before it is submitted to the Secretary of Education.

Senator John Hoeven cosponsored bipartisan legislation to protect small businesses from potential health care premium increases under the Affordable Care Act. The Protecting Affordable Coverage for Employees (PACE) Act allows states to maintain the current definition of a small group market as 1-50 employees to prevent premium increases and disruptions for small and mid-size businesses. Hoeven joins prime sponsor Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina on the legislation. Currently, almost all states define their small group market to include employers with 1-50 employees. Under the health care law, the definition of small business will expand to include employers with up to 100 employees starting January 1, 2016. Expanding the small group definition up to 100 could increase premiums for the vast majority of small employers and also prevent mid-size employers from keeping their current plans. According to Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota, the expansion of small group from 50 to 100 will cause both rate and benefit disruption for about 150 North Dakota groups which cover almost 20,000 North Dakotans.

Following a letter from U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Angus King, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced that it will delay new menu labeling requirements at supermarkets, grocery stores, and similar retail locations for one year. In May, Senators Collins and King, along with several of their Senate colleagues, urged the agency in a letter to delay the regulations so that these establishments in Maine and around the country, which often sell food for in-store consumption, would receive adequate time and guidance to comply with the new regulations. In a written response to the senators, the FDA has said that it will delay implementation of the rules until December 1, 2016. The new menu labeling requirements are the result of a provision in the Affordable Care Act that calls for a national, uniform nutrition-disclosure standard for foodservice establishments, primarily intended for restaurants. The FDA first released draft regulations to implement this provision in 2011, however, the agency also unexpectedly incorporated grocery and convenience stores because of the food sold at deli counters, snack bars, salad bars, and other in-store options. The FDA issued its final menu labeling regulations in December of 2014, and businesses originally had until December 2015 to comply with the regulations. Following the FDA’s decision, they will now have until December 2016 to do so. The agency plans to issue a draft guidance document in August 2015 to answer some of the most frequently asked questions surrounding the menu-labeling rule and help stores as they work to comply.