House
Stock Options, National Debt
A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate, where it was dead on arrival.
Voting 287 for 124 against, the House on Sept. 22 passed a GOP-sponsored bill (HR 5719) that would allow employees to defer for as long as seven years the payment of income taxes on compensation received in the form of stock options. The bill would add $1 billion to federal debt over 10 years because it is not offset by spending cuts or revenue increases. Under existing law, stock options become a “taxable event” when they are fully conveyed to the employee, or vested. The bill applies to employees of companies at which at least 80 percent of the workforce receives stock compensation; it does not apply to management’s stock options.
Censure of Payments to Iran
A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate, where it was dead on arrival.
Voting 254 for and 163 against, the House on Sept. 22 passed a GOP-sponsored bill (HR 5931) that would censure the administration for having paid $1.7 billion in settlements to Iran in the nine months since a global deal to dismantle Iran’s nuclear program took effect. Made in publicly disclosed installments of $400 million and $1.3 billion, the payments would settle a dispute over arms transactions with the former shah of Iran. The first payment, for $400 million, was made on Jan.16, the date on which the nuclear deal took effect and the U.S. and Iran completed a prisoner swap. Republicans call that payment “ransom.” This bill imposes conditions on any future payments to settle Iranian claims, including a requirement that Congress be notified in advance.
Iranian Leaders’ Personal Assets
A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate, where it appeared certain to fail.
Voting 282 for and 143 against, the House on Sept. 21 passed a GOP-sponsored bill (HR 5461) that would require the Department of the Treasury to provide Congress with classified information on the financial assets held by Iran’s top military and political leaders, including information on how they acquired their wealth. Collected by Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset Control and Office of Intelligence and Analysis, this information is now classified and protected from circulation on Capitol Hill,
Judicial Purgatory for New Rules
A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate, where its chances were nil.
Voting 244 for and 180 against, the House on Sept. 21 passed a bill (HR 3438) that would allow courts to indefinitely delay new federal rules that would impose a cost of $1 billion or more annually on the economy. If a petition seeking judicial review is filed within 60 days of the rule’s effective date, courts could stay the rule until the legal challenge is resolved, even if that takes years. Agencies have proposed about two dozen billion-dollar rules since 2006. In defining the term $1 billion, the bill counts compliance costs but not the savings to society that result from factors such as improved job safety and environmental protection.
Exempting Rules for Homeland Security
A yes vote was to exempt homeland-security rules from the underlying bill.
Voting 182 for and 240 against, the House on Sept. 21 defeated a Democratic bid to keep HR 3438 (above) from indefinitely delaying rules that would protect the country against domestic and foreign security threats.
Senate
$1 Billion in Arms to Saudi Arabia
A yes vote was to approve the U.S.-Saudi weapons deal.
By a vote of 71 for and 27 against, the Senate on Sept. 21 tabled (killed) a measure (SJ Res 39) that sought to block a proposed $1.15 billion U.S. arms sale to Saudi Arabia. In the deal, the Saudis would receive153 Abrams tanks, 20 Hercules armored vehicles and smaller arms such as of machine guns and smoke-grenade launchers. Critics said the deal would further entangle the U.S. in Yemen’s civil war, which Saudi forces have joined.
Corps of Engineers Water Projects
A yes vote was to pass the bill.
Voting 95 for and three against, the Senate on Sept. 15 passed a bill (S 2848) that would authorize $10.6 billion over 10 years for hundreds of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects for purposes such as flood control, shoreline protection, river navigation, harbor dredging, lock and dam maintenance and environmental restoration. The bill includes $100 million in emergency grants and loans to help communities such as Flint, Mich., deal with lead-poisoned drinking water and $700 million to help municipalities replace crumbling drinking-water infrastructure.
Zika Virus, Planned Parenthood, Confederate Flag
A yes vote was to advance the bill toward final passage.
By a vote of 52 for and 46 against, the Senate on Sept. 6 failed to reach 60 votes needed to end Democratic delay and advance a bill (HR 2577) that would fund fiscal 2016 budgets for veterans, military construction and housing programs. The bill includes $1.1 billion for combating the mosquito-borne Zika virus now spreading in the United States. Democrats based their filibuster on GOP-sponsored language in the bill that would ban Planned Parenthood funding of Zika-related reproductive care, allow unfettered display of the Confederate flag in national cemeteries and ease federal regulation of pesticides. When contracted by pregnant women, Zika can cause microcephaly, a birth defect in which the baby’s head is smaller than expected.
