Congressional Dish: CD038: Wasting July

CD038: Wasting July

Aug 9, 2013

In this episode, we catch up on most of the bills that passed the House during the last two weeks of August. A lot of bills were passed; very few have a prayer of becoming law.

Intro and Exit Music: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio) S. 622: The Animal Drug Bill

Is now law
Covered in detail in the second half of episode CD030
Continues a system designed to expedite the approval of anti-biotics for animals
Caps revenues from application fees paid by pharmaceutical companies

Music: Don't Waste My Time by Planet Killers (found on Music Alley by mevio) H.R. 1911: The Student Loan Bill

Has been amended by the Senate, passed the House again on July 31, and is now on the President's desk
Original version covered in episode CD029
Now ties student loan interest loan rates to the market and caps rates at 8.25% for undergraduates and 9.5% for graduate students
Student loan rate will be fixed at the rate where it starts for the life of the loan
CBO predicts the rates will be above the current 6.8% starting in 2017

[caption id="attachment_801" align="aligncenter" width="912"] Congressional Record for July 31, page H5219[/caption] H.R. 2094: The Epinephrine Bill

Passed the House on July 30, 2013
Public schools will be allowed to stockpile epinephrine for students with food allergies and train staff to administer it

H.R. 2218: The Coal Waste Bill

Passed the House on July 25, 2013
States will be allowed the regulate coal waste instead of the Federal government
Gives the coal industry 10 years to meet groundwater protection standards
Prohibits the EPA from categorizing waste from burning coal, oil, natural gas, and tar sands as 'hazardous waste'.

The EPA rule from May 2000 saying that fossil fuel waste should not be classified as hazardous:

Today's action applies to all remaining fossil fuel combustion wastes other than high volume coal combustion wastes generated at electric utilities and independent power producing facilities and manage separately which were addressed by a 1993 regulatory determination. These include: Large-volume coal combustion wastes generate at electric utility and independent power producing facilities that are co-managed together with certain other coal combustion wastes; coal combustion wastes generated at facilities with fluidized bed combustion technology; petroleum coke combustion wastes, wastes from the combustion of mixtures of coal and other fuels (i.e, co-burning); wastes from the combustion of oil, and wastes from the combustion of natural gas. The Agency has concluded these wastes do not warrant regulation under subtitle C or RCRA and is retaining the hazardous waste exemption under RCRA section 3001(b)(3)(C).

President Obama and his EPA wanted to classify fossil fuel wastes a hazardous

But they backed down

Petroleum Coke blowing over Detroit H.R. 1582: Stop EPA Regulations Bill

Passed the House on August 1, 2013
EPA is not allowed to issue a regulation costing over $1 billion
The social cost of carbon - climate change, cancer rates, etc. - can't be used in a cost-benefit analysis

H.R. 367: Stop All Regulations - Except the Ones From the Federal Reserve

Passed the House on July 31, 2013
Was called the REINS ACT in the 112th Congress
Forces Federal agencies to get Congressional approval for all major rules that cost over $100 million, affect the finances of businesses, or create a carbon tax
If Congress does nothing for 70 working days, the rule can't be enacted
None of this is subject to judicial review
Monetary policy by the Federal Reserve is exempted

H.R. 313: The Government Conferences Bill

Passed the House on July 31, 2013
Government can't spend more than $500,000 on any individual conference
All materials presented at the conference must be posted online
Private companies can spend money on government conferences

H.R. 2879: "Stop Government Abuse Act"

Three bills were combined into one and passed the House on August 1, 2013
Allows businesses to record in-person and telephone conversations with Executive Branch agencies such as the EPA, OSHA, and the IRS.
Makes it easier to fire high level federal employees
Caps the bonuses of federal employees and prevents 2/3 of eligible federal employees from getting bonuses at all

Government doesn't create jobs, the private sector does. — Eric Cantor (@GOPLeader) August 4, 2013

H.R. 1660: The Customer Service in Government Bill

Passed the House on July 31, 2013
Each agency must establish customer service standards including targets for response times, processing of benefits & payments, etc.
Create a pilot program for the IRS and two other agencies to collect taxpayer complaints
Gives no money or extra personal to the agencies to implement these new policies

The full story of the IRS scandal: Episode CD028 H.R. 2769: No IRS Conferences