PATH CLEAR FOR PUERTO RICO BILL PASSAGE: Congressional leaders from both parties are rallying around a long-awaited bill aimed at defusing the debt crisis in Puerto Rico.
{mosads}The measure, which had been weeks in the works, received the blessing of Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), as well as the White House. And potential pockets of opposition on the left and the right have failed to materialize, which suggests the measure finally has a path to passage.
Ryan told reporters he was confident a majority of House Republicans would back the measure, which could reach the House floor at the beginning of June.
“I do feel good about it,” Ryan said. “We got this bill exactly where we wanted it.” The Hill’s Peter Schroeder and I will tell you why: http://bit.ly/22hs8gU.
BILL RELEASED LATE LAST NIGHT: The House Natural Resources Committee released the new draft of the bill to guide Puerto Rico out of its debt crisis late Wednesday night, a rollout delayed for weeks as lawmakers and the Obama administration haggled over details.
The updated Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA) arms a fiscal oversight board with substantial control and punitive power over how the territory handles its debt crisis, according to a committee overview of changes.
It also adjusts provisions reducing Puerto Rico’s minimum wage for employees hired after the law’s enactment and protects preexisting debt payment priorities. I’ll tell you what’s inside here: http://bit.ly/22hxBEt.
WILDLIFE RESERVE TRANSFER NIXED: Lawmakers working on a bill to help Puerto Rico with its debt crisis dropped a Republican-backed provision from the legislation that would have transferred ownership of part of a federal wildlife refuge to the Puerto Rican government.
Republicans on the House Natural Resources Committee, the main panel working on the Puerto Rico bill, had originally included the transfer of 3,100 acres of the Vieques National Wildlife Refuge to the territory’s government in an earlier draft of the legislation.
Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah), the committee’s chairman, along with numerous conservatives on the panel, frequently seek out opportunities to reduce federal ownership of land nationwide.
Bishop, a backer of the provision, confirmed that it was removed as part of the negotiations with the administration and Democrats. The Hill’s Timothy Cama tells us how it played: http://bit.ly/1qx0j6y.
SANDERS BASHES NEW DRAFT: Reworked legislation helping Puerto Rico steer through its debt crisis has found one high-profile detractor: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
The Democratic presidential candidate offered the toughest criticism on Capitol Hill of legislation unveiled late Wednesday, dismissing the measure out of hand and calling for a radically different approach.
“The legislation … is a move in exactly the wrong direction,” he said in a statement.
Sanders blasted one of the central pieces of the bill — the outside control board — calling it unacceptable and undemocratic. Peter Schroeder tells us why: http://bit.ly/1TqqYMz.
HOUSE ERUPTS IN CHAOS AFTER GOP VOTES DOWN LGBT MEASURE: The House floor devolved into chaos and shouting on Thursday as a measure to ensure protections for members of the LGBT community narrowly failed to pass after Republican leaders urged their members to change their votes.
Initially, it appeared Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney’s (D-N.Y.) amendment had passed, as 217 “yes” votes piled up over 206 “no” votes when the clock ran out. The measure needed 213 votes to pass.
But it eventually failed on a 212-213 vote after a number of Republican lawmakers changed their votes from “yes” to “no” after the clock had expired.
GOP leaders held the vote open as they pressured members to change sides. Infuriating Democrats, they let lawmakers switch their votes without walking to the well at the front of the chamber.
“Shame! Shame! Shame!” Democrats chanted as they watched the vote tally go from passage of Maloney’s amendment to narrow failure. The Hill’s Cristina Marcos walks us through the confusion and rage: http://bit.ly/1XCPT2q.
TWO GOP REPS TO TESTIFY IN IRS IMPEACHMENT HEARING: The House Judiciary Committee announced on Thursday that Republican Reps. Jason Chaffetz (Utah) and Ron DeSantis (Fla.) will be witnesses at Tuesday’s hearing on alleged misconduct by Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner John Koskinen.
Chaffetz is the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and DeSantis serves on the panel.
They will present the findings of the Oversight Committee’s investigation into Koskinen’s behavior in relation to the political targeting controversy, in which the IRS gave heightened scrutiny to Tea Party groups seeking tax-exempt status. The Hill’s Naomi Jagoda tells us what to expect: http://bit.ly/27F4kaP.
HATCH: SENATE WON’T REMOVE IRS HEAD: The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee says a House effort to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen has no chance of moving through the Senate.
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), the most senior Senate Republican, on Thursday said his colleagues and Koskinen don’t always agree but that those conflicts shouldn’t cost the commissioner his job.
“We can have our disagreements with him, but that doesn’t mean there’s an impeachable offense,” Hatch told reporters at the Capitol. “And for the most part he’s been very cooperative with us.” http://bit.ly/1Ti1ELM.
HAPPY THURSDAY and welcome to Overnight Finance, where we’re appreciating and remembering what blue skies look like. I’m Sylvan Lane, and here’s your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line.
Tonight’s highlights include Senate passage of funding for Zika, Elizabeth Warren’s push for organizing on-demand workers and an eye-popping debt report on Bernie Sanders’s platform.
See something I missed? Let me know at slane@digital-release.thehill.com or tweet me @SylvanLane. And if you like your newsletter, you can subscribe to it here: http://bit.ly/1NxxW2N.
SENATE CLEARS BROAD SPENDING BILL WITH $1.1 BILLION FOR ZIKA: The Senate approved a broad appropriations bill Thursday, including $1.1 billion in Zika virus funds.
Senators voted 89-8 on the merged Transportation-Housing and Urban Development, military construction and Veterans Affairs spending bill. The overwhelming vote came despite a veto threat from the White House.
GOP Sens. Bob Corker (Tenn.), Mike Crapo (Idaho), Jeff Flake (Ariz.), James Lankford (Okla.), Mike Lee (Utah), Rand Paul (Ky.), Jim Risch (Idaho) and Jeff Sessions (Ala.) voted against the legislation. Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) missed the vote.
The legislation includes more than $190 billion for military construction and veterans and more than $114 billion for transportation and housing programs.
Passage of the bill comes after senators agreed earlier Thursday to attach the Zika money to the spending bill, setting themselves up for a showdown with the House. The Hill’s Jordain Carney tells us how they got here: http://bit.ly/1XD5aQX.
REPORT: SANDERS’ PLANS WOULD ADD $19 TRILLION TO DEBT: The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) says the proposals of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders would add $19 trillion to the debt — an increase from its previous estimate.
In an analysis published in April, the CRFB estimated that the Independent senator’s proposals would add $2 trillion to $15 trillion to the debt, depending on the cost of Sanders’s single-payer healthcare plan. Since then, two new independent analyses have found that the healthcare plan “would cost dramatically more than the campaign-provided estimates suggest,” the CRFB said Thursday in its updated analysis.
“As a result, we no longer provide a ‘low health cost’ estimate based on the numbers cited by the Sanders campaign,” the group said.
The CRFB found that Sanders would increase spending and revenue “to far beyond any previous levels in the United States over the last half century.” Naomi Jagoda walks us through the report: http://bit.ly/1U2hNC2.
GOVERNMENT REPORT TOUTS PACIFIC TRADE DEAL BENEFITS: A new government report shows that the U.S. economy would modestly expand and incomes and employment would rise under an expansive Pacific Rim trade agreement.
The U.S. International Trade Commission’s report said that the agriculture and service sectors would gain the greatest benefits from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement.
U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said that the report represents another data point that will be used by congressional lawmakers to assess the 12-nation TPP agreement.
“The ITC report provides another strong argument for why TPP should be passed this year,” Froman said on a call with reporters.
“It is part of a growing body of evidence that shows that TPP will benefit our economy at home and allow the U.S. to help set the rules of the road for trade in the Asia Pacific,” he said.
But lawmakers remained cautious on their support for TPP after the report’s release. The Hill’s Vicki Needham explains: http://bit.ly/20bTWlj.
WARREN: LET UBER AND LYFT DRIVERS ORGANIZE: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) says on-demand economy workers at companies like Uber and Lyft should be allowed to organize and negotiate as a group with their employers.
“Every worker should have the right to organize — period,” said Warren on Thursday at a conference held by the New America Foundation.
“Full-time, part-time, temp workers, gig workers, contract workers, you bet, those who provide the labor should have the right to bargain as a group with whoever controls the terms of their work, and they should be protected from retaliation or discrimination for doing so,” she added.
Her comments on the hotly debated topic in tech circles came as part of a speech that discussed the on-demand economy in a push for broader workplace reforms. The Hill’s David McCabe gets us up to speed: http://bit.ly/1TJCccq.
HOUSE VOTES TO RESTRICT CONFEDERATE FLAG IN FEDERAL CEMETERIES: The House approved a Democratic proposal on Thursday to limit the display of the Confederate flag in national cemeteries.
The amendment to a spending bill for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and military construction projects passed 265-159. A total of 158 Republicans opposed the amendment from Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), while 84 Republicans joined all but one Democrat in supporting it.
Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.), a centrist who is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, was the only Democrat to vote against the amendment. Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) voted “present.”
Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) expressed support for allowing the vote despite opposition from a majority of his conference. Cristina Marcos tells us what happened behind the scenes, and how one GOP staffer invoked ISIS in the debate: http://bit.ly/1TJEl7Q.
FOOTWEAR COMPANIES POUND THE PAVEMENT FOR PACIFIC TRADE DEAL: The U.S. footwear industry is ramping up a lobbying campaign behind President Obama’s Pacific Rim trade agreement.
The Footwear Distributors and Retailers Association (FDRA) and nearly three dozen of its members were canvassing Capitol Hill on Wednesday, urging lawmakers to pass the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which they say will significantly reduce tariffs and create jobs.
“Our message is now is the time to get this thing done,” said Matt Priest, FDRA’s president, whose group represents more than 120 companies and 250 brands.
“This is really is about American jobs, domestic manufacturing jobs, retail jobs, warehouse jobs and consumers,” he said.
Priest said the group’s members span across nearly every congressional district in the country, which he called “advantageous to our effort.”
“We will use that leverage as an organization to ensure that members know the importance of how TPP will drive things to consumers and help drive jobs,” he said. Vicki Needham tells us why: http://bit.ly/1VbN1cg.
HOUSE VOTES TO LET VA DOCTORS RECOMMEND MEDICAL MARIJUANA: The House endorsed a proposal on Thursday to remove restrictions on letting doctors at Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals discuss the use of medical marijuana with patients.
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) has repeatedly offered the measure as an amendment to an annual spending bill for the VA and military construction projects, only to see it fail narrowly each time. But it sailed through this year on a 233-189 vote.
Last April, the House rejected Blumenauer’s amendment by a razor-thin vote of 210-213. This time, 57 Republicans joined with all but five Democrats in support.
Blumenauer noted that 24 states, along with the District of Columbia, have passed laws allowing access to medical marijuana to treat conditions including anxiety and traumatic brain injury. Fourteen of those states authorize doctors to recommend medical marijuana to treat post-traumatic stress disorder.
“I think it is the right thing to do for our veterans, to be able to treat them equitably, to enable them to have access to the doctor who knows them the best, giving them better treatment and saving them money,” Blumenauer, whose home state of Oregon has legalized recreational marijuana, said as he unveiled his amendment shortly after midnight Thursday: http://bit.ly/23YMydV.
NIGHTCAP: Golfer Phil Mickelson made nearly $1 million from an illegal tip he received in July 2012, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said in a complaint filed Thursday.
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