A summary of January, the first month of the 114th Congress. In this episode, a favor for Wall Street is signed into law, the Senate did almost nothing, and the House passed bills that benefit Wall Street, fossil fuel companies, and companies that don’t want to give you health insurance. There were a few good bills mixed in there too.

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January Laws

HR 26: Terrorism Risk Insurance Program ReAuthorization Act of 2015

• The bill reauthorizes and changes the terms of the program that provides Federal insurance to businesses damaged in a terrorist attack.
  • The program was dead for 12 days after expiring on December 31, 2014.
  • Extends the program until December 31, 2020
  • Decreases the Federal share of compensation from 85% to 80% over the course of the next five years. There’s a $100 billion cap on Federal losses.
  • The program trigger, which is the point at which insurance companies get Federal money, gradually increases from $100 million now to $200 million.
  • The Secretary of Treasury alone will certify the act of terrorism; the Secretary of State will no longer be involved.
• A rollback of the Dodd Frank financial reform bill was attached.
  • The attachment prevents the SEC from telling swaps traders how much cash they need to put up front to make a swaps trade.
  • The attachment is the text of the Business Risk Mitigation and Price Stabilization Act, which was written by Rep. Michael Grimm. He tried to get it passed in the 112th and 113th Congresses, before he resigned on the first day of the 114th Congress after pleading guilty to tax fraud. The Securities and Investment industry was his #2 contributor, giving him over $400,000. Rep. Jeb Hensarling, who fought to keep this provision in the bill, has taken at least $2.8 million from the financial industry.

January Bills

H.R. 22 and S. 12: Hire More Heroes Act

• Veterans with government health care will not count towards the 50 employee Affordable Care Act threshold which triggers a company’s obligation to give employees health insurance.
• The bill is sponsored by Rep. Rodney Davis in the House, who has taken over $180,000 from health professionals and over $160,000 from the insurance industry.
• The bill is sponsored by Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri, who has taken almost $1.3 million from health professionals and almost a million from the insurance industry.

H.R. 23: National Windstorm Impact Reduction Act Reauthorization of 2015

• Reauthorizes and updates the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program
• The program designed to improve weather modeling, coordinate post-storm investigations, improve understanding of wind’s impact on buildings and vital infrastructure, and promote adoption of storm preparation measures.
• Appropriates about $21 million per year for the next three years
• Written by Rep. Randy Neugebauer of Texas

H.R. 34: Tsunami Warning, Education, and Research Act of 2015

• Consolidates tsunami warning systems for the Pacific and Arctic Oceans and for the Atlantic Ocean into a single warning system, which will cooperate with other countries’ warning systems.
• Appropriates $27 million per year through 2017 to get this done.
• Passed unanimously.
• Written by Rep. Suzanne Bonamici of Oregon

H.R. 203: Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act

• Requires annual independent evaluations of Veteran’s Administration mental health programs
• Requires the Veteran’s Administration to create a website for information about their mental health services that needs to be updated at least every 90 days.
• Creates a three year pilot program to repay psychiatrists’ loans ($30,000 a year) if they work for at least two years at the Veteran’s Health Administration.
• Prohibits any additional money to get this done.
• Written by Democrat Rep. Timothy Walz of Minnesota

H.R. 351: LNG Permitting Certainty and Transparency Act

• Forces the Department of Energy to decide on applications to construct, expand, or operate liquified natural gas export facilities within 30 days of the completed NEPA review.
• Requires the applicant to publicly disclose the specific destination of the liquified natural gas exports.
• Written by Rep. Bill Johnson of Ohio, whose top three contributing industries are #1 Leadership PACs, who have given him over $387,000, #2 Mining, who has given him over $250,000, and #3 Oil and Gas, who has given him over $244,000.

H.R. 3: and S. 1 Keystone XL Pipeline Act

• Explicitly approves the Keystone XL pipeline.
• Forces any lawsuits against the pipeline to be filed in Washington D.C. or in the Supreme Court
• Written by Rep. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, whose #1 contributing industry is Oil & Gas, who have given him over $322,000.
• The House version would be vetoed by the President

H.R. 30: Save American Workers Act of 2015

• Makes people work for 40+ hours to be eligible for employer provided health insurance.
• Effective as of January 1, 2014
• The effects of this on the budget will not be counted
• Written by Rep. Todd Young of Indiana
• Passed 252-172
• Would be vetoed by the President

H.R. 185: Regulatory Accountability Act of 2015

• Adds extra work to creating regulations
• Makes it easier for the courts to shut down regulations
• Written by Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, who has accepted over $10 million from various industries
• Passed the House 250-175
• Would be vetoed by the President

H.R. 37: Promoting Job Creation and Reducing Small Business Burdens Act

• A package of 11 Wall Street deregulation bills from the 113th Congress (the GOP House leadership tried to get this passed as an uncontroversial suspension bill on the second day of the 114th Congress).
• Includes the Business Risk Mitigation and Price Stabilization Act, which is the bill that has already been signed into law as an attachment to the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program reauthorization.
• Would delay the Volcker rule until 2019 (the Federal Reserve already delayed it until 2017), which prohibits commercial banks from trading collateralized loan obligations.
• Would allow companies to exclude historical data from their financial reports at their discretion.
• Companies with under $250 million in revenue wouldn’t have to submit their financial statements in computer readable form (this would include roughly 60% of publicly traded stocks).
• Exempts some private equity firms from having to register as brokers with the SEC, which will exempt them from more frequent examinations.
• The bill was sponsored by Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, who is retiring from Congress at the end of this term. His #1 contributing industry is leadership PACs but his #4 is the finance industry. He’s taken almost $500,000
• Would be vetoed by the President

YouTube: GOP Financial Services video about HR 37, starring Michael Fitzpatrick

H.R. 161: Natural Gas Pipeline Permitting Reform Act

• This bill was discussed during the 113th Congress in episode CD055: Three Bills for Fossil Fuels
• Permits for natural gas pipelines must be decided in under 1 year
• If the agency does not decide within 90 days of the completed environmental review, the permit will be automatically approved on the 120th day
• Written by Rep. Mike Pompeo of Kansas (who is the Koch brothers’ Congressman) who has taken almost $300,000 from Koch Industries alone. In total, he has taken $928,000 from the Oil and Gas industry.
• Would be vetoed by the President

H.R. 7: No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act of 2015

• Would prohibit Federal funding for any abortion (Currently, federal funds cannot be used for abortion services, except in cases involving rape, incest, or life endangermen).
• Prohibits small businesses from claiming their health insurance tax credit if the plan they offer includes abortion
• Written by Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey
• Would be vetoed by the President

H.R. 240: Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2015

• Already dead.

H.R. 514: Human Trafficking Prioritization Act

• Sense of Congress that the State Department can combat trafficking just fine without more money and orders a report.
• Written by Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey

H.R. 515: International Megan’s Law to Prevent Demand for Child Sex Trafficking

• Creates a new Angel Watch Center in the Department of Homeland Security which will track and store travel information about sex-offenders and notify other countries of the sex-offender’s travel plans.
• Written by Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey

H.R. 357: Human Trafficking Prevention Act

• Expands required information in training programs for Federal employees dealing with human trafficking.
• Written by Rep. Sean Maloney of New York

H.R. 468: Enhancing Services for Runaway and Homeless Victims of Youth Trafficking Act of 2015

• Adds “severe forms of trafficking in person” to the list of things that grant money for runaway and homeless kids can be used for
• Written by Rep. Joe Heck of Nevada

H.R. 350: Human Trafficking Prevention, Intervention, and Recovery Act of 2015

• Orders a few reports
• Written by Kristi Noem of South Dakota

H.R. 159: Stop Exploitation Through Trafficking Act of 2015

• Prioritizes how grants to local police forces are given based on the State’s laws’ treatment of victims of sex trafficking
• Makes sex trafficking victims eligible for the Jobs Corps even if they aren’t low income
• Written by Rep. Erik Paulsen of Minnesota

H.R. 285: SAVE Act of 2015

• Makes advertising the services of prostitutes who are under 18 or are forced into prostitution punishable by ten years in prison.
• Written by by Rep. Ann Wagner of Missouri

H.R. 181: Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015

• Prioritizes how grants to local police forces are given based on the State’s laws’ treatment of victims of sex trafficking
• Adds the production of child pornography to the definition of “child abuse’
• Allows the FBI to wire tap suspected child abusers
• Eliminates the prosecutorial requirement that that the government prove that the defendant recklessly disregarded the victims age puts the burden of proof on the defendant
• Written by Rep. Ted Poe of Texas

H.R. 460: Human Trafficking Detection Act of 2015

• Trains TSA, Customs, and Border Patrol agents on how to detect and disrupt human trafficking within one year
• Written by Rep. Bradley Walker of North Carolina

H.R. 398 and S. 205: Trafficking Awareness Training for Health Care Act of 2015

• Gives a grant to one hospital to develop best practices for recognizing and treating human trafficking victims
• Written by Rep. Renee Ellmers of North Carolina in the House and Rep. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana in the Senate.

H.R. 469: Strengthening Child Welfare Response to Trafficking Act of 2015

• Prioritizes how grants to local police forces are given based on the State’s laws’ treatment of victims of sex trafficking
• Written by Rep. Karen Bass of California

H.R. 246: To improve the response to victims of child sex trafficking.

• Adds child sex trafficking to the list of things that should be reported on the “cyber tipline”
• Written by Rep. Joyce Beatty of Ohio

Additional Information

Article: Obama Moves to Block Horse Slaughter by Stephanie Strom. New York Times. April 2013.

Article: Fox News to earn $1.50 per subscriber by Brian Stelter. CNN Money. January 2015.

Music Presented in This Episode

• Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio)
• CEO by Kito Peters (found on Music Alley by mevio)
• Warden Pale’s Big Profit Prison by William Brooks

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