Congressional Dish

Iran sanctions are signed into law, a gas pipeline gets fast tracked through a NYC park, the Buffett Rule is (sort of) passed, a "War on Coal" is not really waged, and more from this week in Congress... HR 1905: Iran Sanctions *Signed into law* Sanctions = Shut down trade in and out of Iran. People can't get what they need, they get mad at their government, the government needs to do what we want them to do in order to make the sanctions go away and get their people to back off. What do we want them to do? Stop developing nuclear weapons (if they actually are – hasn't been proven). Stop human rights abuses. Open their oil industry to the "free market" Exxon Mobil, BP and others were welcomed into Iraq after we took over the country History of Iran Pre 1951- Iran's oil was owned by the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, now known as BP. 1951- Iran nationalized their oil industry. 1953- CIA, with lots of help from the British, overthrew the democratically elected government, installing the Shah. Oil companies were allowed back in and helped themselves to 50% of the oil profits. 1979- Iranians overthrew the Shah (the dictator installed by the US) and installed the Islamic Republic, who were not US-approved and are still in power today. The Islamic Republic nationalized the banking system and imposed controls on imports and exports, reversing the Shah's free trade policies. They also re-nationalized the oil industry. Current sanctions take aim at that nationalized oil company… Prohibits any country or company from: 1) Helping Iran develop their oil. 2) Helping Iran construct, maintain, or repair their refineries. 3) Helping Iran construct port facilities, railways, or roads that will be used to deliver their oil. Prevents shipping companies from transporting any oil products to or from Iran. Prevents insurance companies from insuring the National Iranian Oil Company or the National Iranian Tanker Company. Section 312: Orders a report in 45 days listing the reasons that the National Iranian Oil Company and the National Iranian Tanker Company are "agents" of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (their military). Turns the Iranian oil companies into military targets. Orders a report on whether sanctions on Iran's natural gas could be applied as they are to oil. HR 3783: "Countering Iran in the Western Hemisphere Act" Gives the Secretary of State 180 days to create a report to address Iran's "growing hostile presence and activity" in the Western Hemisphere. Report needs to include a plan "ensuring energy supplies from the Western Hemisphere that are free from the influence of any foreign government that would attempt to manipulate or disrupt global energy markets." Report needs to describe the terrain, population, ports, airports, borders, media outlets, financial centers, foreign embassies, charities, religious and cultural centers, and income-generating activities in the Western Hemisphere utilized by Iran. Listed countries of concern are Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Argentina, and Brazil. Four of the countries on the list have already nationalized their oil: Venezuela Bolivia Ecuador Argentina (happening right now) The other 2 may be on the list because: Nicaragua – President Ortega was the President the Contras were trying to overthrow. Iran-Contra scandal is when Reagan's CIA sold weapons to Iran and gave the money to the Contras… to beat President Ortega… who is President again. President Ortega has an alliance with Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. Brazil – just elected a friendly government but also has found huge amounts of offshore oil since 2007. They might have more than us. Passed by the House, now moves into the Senate. HR 4155: Military Training Sufficient for Federal Training and Certification *Signed into law* H.R. 4124: Veteran Work Experience in Medical Field Gives money to states to change their processes for licensing veterans with medical experience in combat. Money only given to states with a shortage in medical technicians $1 million over four years = $250,000 per year = $5,000 per year per state. Passed the House, moves into the Senate. H.R. 5948: Veterans Fiduciary Reform & Honoring Noble Service Act Establishes rules for dividing the assets of dead soldiers both with and without a known next of kin. Let's the government provide caskets and urns for dead soldiers who don't have family to pay for them. Gives Bush Wars veterans a spot for remembrance at Arlington National Cemetery. Passed the House, moves into the Senate. H.R. 2606: Gas Pipeline Through NYC Recreation Area [caption id="attachment_36" align="aligncenter" width="625"] The proposed Rockaway natural gas pipeline (Source: Williams)[/caption] Written for the Transcontinental Gas Pipeline Company (Transco). Tells the Secretary of Interior that he can feel free to give them a permit good for 10 years. Passed the Senate; it's on it's way to President's desk.* *Whoopsie: the bill actually went back to the House. (11/13/2012) H.R. 6410: "Buffett Rule Act of 2012" Buffett Rule = rich people should pay a tax rate at least as high as their secretaries. The name of the bill is a trick; the bill adds a donation box to tax return forms. It doesn't change tax rates at all. Passed the House, moves into the Senate. HR 2903: FEMA Reauthorization No increase in funding through 2014. Can sell "extra" FEMA trailers to states. Provides money to modernize the "public alert and warning system" We must conduct tests every 3 years. Communications industry will not be forced to participate. Passed House, moves into the Senate. H.R. 5912: No Public Money for Party Conventions Eliminates all public funding of political conventions, effective next year (2013). D's and R's each got $18 million this year. Currently, only D's and R's get public money. No other political parties are eligible. Will result in more private control over political parties. Passed the House, moves into the Senate. H.R. 3409: "Coal Miner Employment & Domestic Energy Infrastructure Protection Act" Package of 5 bills; 4 out of the 5 bills in this package have already passed the House in 2011-2012 but failed in the Senate. TITLE I: Secretary of the Interior can't issue any new regulations between now and 2014 that would: "Adversely impact employment in coal mines in the United States". Reduce the amount of money the government (Federal or State) receives from coal mining. Reduce the amount of coal available for US use or for exporting for profit. Protect any land from coal mining. Regulate privately-owned coal. TITLE II: No Greenhouse Gas Regulation Under the Clean Air Act "The [EPA] Administrator may not, under this Act, promulgate any regulation concerning, take action relating to, or take into consideration the emission of a greenhouse gas to address climate change" Repeals the mandatory reporting of greenhouse gas emissions Prevents states (like California) from adopting mileage standards that are stricter than the Federal standards TITLE III: Eliminates regulations for the benefit of businesses. Creates a committee, headed by the Secretary of Commerce, that will analyze how environmental regulations affect business. Eliminates some air quality rules for industrial equipment, makes the EPA start over on them, and prevents them from taking effect in under 6 years When making the regulations, the EPA must consider costs to companies and must choose the option that is "least burdensome" to those companies TITLE IV: Gives states control of regulating coal ash. Companies found in violation of regulations will have 8-10 years to make those changes. The deadline can be extended. TITLE V: EPA must analyze the impact of their regulations on "employment levels and economic activity, including estimated job losses and decreased economic activity" Numbers will be rigged "Any offsetting job gains that result from the hypothetical creation of new jobs through new technologies or government employment may not be used in the job loss calculation." "Any offsetting economic activity that results from the hypothetical creation of new economic activity through new technologies or government employment may not be used in the economic activity calculation." Prevents EPA from over-riding water quality standards of the states. Also, prevents EPA from over-riding water quality standards of the states. McKinley Amendment prohibits the EPA from retroactively invalidating permits after they have been issued. Passed the House, moves into the Senate (where its failure is guaranteed). Vacation Time Congress returned from their 5 week summer vacation last Monday, September 10th. On Friday, September 21st, they left for their 7 week election vacation. They will return to work on Tuesday, November 13th.

Congress returns from vacation, Dennis Cardoza (CA-18) resigns, President Obama continues the 9/11 State of Emergency, FISA is reauthorized, veterans benefits are held hostage, mining companies get a gift from Congress, solar power is attacked, and more from this week in Congress... Executive Producer: William Monroe Dennis Cardoza (CA-18) Resigns Why he said he was resigning: "In light of the fact that nothing is going to happen for the rest of the year, and in light of the fact that (my wife) and I are facing increasing parenting challenges, this seemed the right time to make this move," Cardoza said in an interview published Tuesday by the Sacramento Bee's Capitol Alert (8/14/2012) The real reason he resigned: "Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP, today announced that U.S. Congressman Dennis Cardoza (D-CA) has joined the firm as a Managing Director in the firm's rapidly growing federal government affairs and public policy practice. Cardoza, a former co-chair of the moderate Blue-Dog Coalition, key member of the House Agriculture and Foreign Affairs Committees, and former California State Assemblyman, will utilize his extensive federal and state government experience to advise and strategize with clients on agriculture, energy, foreign affairs and other legislative and regulatory matters. Cardoza will be based in Washington, D.C. but will advise clients facing issues in California and Washington." (8/14/2012) Manatt, Phelps, & Phillips, LLP is a lobbying firm. No special election will be held because resignation is so close to election 2012. 9/11 State of Emergency Letter to both houses of Congress from President Obama: "Section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)) provides for the automatic termination of a national emergency unless, within the 90- day period prior to the anniversary date of its declaration, the President publishes in the Federal Register and transmits to the Congress a notice stating that the emergency is to continue in effect beyond the anniversary date…" "The emergency declared with respect to the terrorist attacks on the United States of September 11, 2001, is to continue in effect for an additional year" Because… "The crisis constituted by the grave acts of terrorism and threats of terrorism committed by foreign terrorists, including the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, in New York and Pennsylvania and against the Pentagon, and the continuing and immediate threat of further attacks on United States nationals or the United States that led to the declaration of a national emergency on September 23, 2001, has not been resolved" FISA Reauthorization Brief History of FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) Created in 1978- established secret courts for getting warrants for spying on foreign communications Needed probable cause Needed to show that foreign intelligence was main objective FISA Reauthorization of 2008 No warrant needed anymore as long as they say a foreigner is involved What is being done with warrentless wiretapping authority? Building the Utah Data Center "Utah Data Center" being built for NSA Collects emails, phone calls, texts, internet searches, parking receipts, travel itineraries, bookstore purchases, etc. Will be completed in September 2013 Costs 2 billion tax dollars Introduced by Glenn Gaffney, spent most of his career at CIA "The Program" by The New York Times. Watch this. The FISA reauthorization was signed into law. H.R. 4057: Veterans' Jobs Bill Good things - States to give credit to job applicants for military training - Online description of financial aid opportunities - Online information about schools (see below) - Burn pit registry - No more than $1 million per year in VA executive "performance awards" Passed the House. Blocked in Senate. Who killed it? Senate Republicans. Attached random killers - Keystone pipeline approval - Elimination of public campaign financing - Eliminated wealthy deductions: mortgage interest, rental expenses, gambling losses, electric plug in vehicles, etc. - Rand Paul (KY): eliminated funds to Pakistan, Yemen, Egypt, and Libya Why did they kill it? My guess is because the clause requiring online information given to veterans about schools. They would have been given: 1) The school's accreditation status. 2) If the school is public, non-profit, or for-profit. 3) Name of accrediting agency and their contact info for student complaints. 4) How much student loan debt is held by their students. 5) Enrollment rates, graduation rates, and retention rates of the school. 6) If they accept credits transferred from for-profit institutions. Also, schools wouldn't have been eligible for financial aid money if it awards commissions for enrolling people with financial aid. Why do I think this was the killer? February 2012: HR 2117 was a Republican bill that passed the House of Representatives. It removed regulations that prevent the over-charging of students with financial aid by for-profit schools. Minnesota Mining Land Swap H.R. 5544: "Minnesota Education Investment and Employment Act" Minnesota's Congress and Governor signed a bill swapping state land in the Federal Wilderness area for Federal land. No Congressional action is needed. HR 5544 lets Minnesota decide the value of Federal lands, lets Minnesota draw the new map, and exempts the exchange from environmental reviews. The sponsors openly admitted that this bill was written for the mining and timber industries. The bill moved into the Senate, where it will probably not come up for a vote. No More Solyndras Eliminated the possibility of loans for the solar industry. Grandfathered in loan guarantees for the nuclear industry. The bill moved into the Senate, where it will probably not come up for a vote. HR 4631: ''Government Spending Accountability Act of 2012'' - Limits government conferences to $500,000. - No limits to the amount private businesses/people can chip in. Passed the House, moves into the Senate. HR 538: ''Government Customer Service Improvement Act'' - Creates customer service representatives in every agency. Passed the House, moves into Senate. HR 6028: "No Hassle Flying Act of 2012" 14 airports outside of USA do security like we do and people flying from there do not need to be rescreened. Their bags still do. This bill allows the bags to also be considered screened in the United States. Passed the House, moves into Senate. S 710: Hazardous Waste Files *Signed into law (October 2012)* - Creates a digital hazardous waste manifest that anyone can use. - In 2006, a fire erupted at a hazardous waste disposal facility in North Carolina. When first responders arrived on the scene, they could not access information about the hazardous chemicals inside of the facility because the paper mani-fests were inside the building that was burning. - Made it discretionary spending, going back to the Senate. Congress Cancelled October Work Days Off for 5 full weeks in August Back for 8 days in September Off for 7 full weeks in October-November

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