REPORT: THE FIRST 170 DAYS OF THE REPUBLICAN CONGRESS

REPORT: THE FIRST 170 DAYS OF THE REPUBLICAN CONGRESS: House Republicans Have Been Wasting Time Re-Passing the Exact Same GOP Radical, Special Interest, Faux ‘Jobs' Bills They Passed Last Congress Once Again, These Faux ‘Jobs' Bills Are Message Bills to Nowhere

Like the 112th Congress, the 113th Congress was one of the most unproductive Congresses in history – with the House Republicans only passing ideological, partisan bills, and over in the Senate, where 60 votes are needed to pass virtually any bill, Republicans successfully blocking progress on virtually every issue. In the 113th Congress, instead of sitting down with Democrats and developing bipartisan solutions to the numerous challenges our nation is facing, all the House GOP Leadership did was pursue more of their same special interest, no-jobs agenda. Throughout 2013 and 2014, House Republicans passed partisan bill after partisan bill – bills that were either giveaways to their special interest friends or part of the radical, Tea Party agenda. June 24th marked the 170th day of the GOP-controlled 114th Congress. Now, in this Congress, once again, instead of sitting down and talking to Democrats, House Republicans are wasting time re-passing the exact same radical, special interest, faux "jobs" bills they passed last Congress. These are message bills to nowhere. In the last Congress, President Obama told them he would veto these radical, special-interest bills; and he has repeated his veto threats as Republicans re-pass them this year. In the first 170 days of this GOP Congress, House Republicans have re-passed numerous ideological bills from the previous Congress. Meanwhile, the nation's problems are not being solved and the nation's challenges are not being met. Below are 15 of the partisan, special interest, faux "jobs" bills, House Republicans have wasted time re-passing in the first 135 days.

• Rulemaking for Special Interests Attempt 1 (Regulatory Accountability Act, H.R. 185) – Instead of creating jobs, this bill tilts rulemaking in favor of special interests – adding 60 new, unnecessary analytical requirements to rulemaking to throw sands in the gears and making it much easier for big corporations – banks, hedge funds, major polluters – to evade their obligations to protect the public by giving deep-pocketed special interests with enough legal resources the option to challenge the rules at many more points in the process. The President threatened to veto this bill last Congress and re-issued his veto threat this Congress.

• Rulemaking for Special Interests Attempt 2 (Natural Gas Pipeline Permitting Reform Act, H.R. 161) – Instead of creating jobs, this bill tilts rulemaking in favor of special interests – allowing the automatic approval of natural gas pipeline projects if the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) or other federal agencies do not issue the required permit within rigid, unworkable timeframes. The bill claims to be solving a problem that actually does not exist. FERC already decides 91 percent of permit applications within 12 months. The President threatened to veto this bill last Congress and re-issued his veto threat this Congress.

• Rulemaking for Special Interests Attempt 3 (Unfunded Mandates Information & Technology Act, H.R. 50) – Instead of creating jobs, this bill tilts rulemaking in favor of special interests – by giving private industry an unfair advantage in the rulemaking process, politicizing independent regulatory agencies, and giving deep-pocketed regulated industries new abilities to tie up rules in litigation in the courts for years. The bill is strongly opposed by such groups as the Consumer Federation of America and the Consumers Union. The President threatened to veto this bill last Congress and re-issued his veto threat in this Congress.

• Rulemaking for Special Interests Attempt 4 (Small Business Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act, H.R. 527) – This bill does not create jobs and also does not provide any assistance to small businesses. Instead, this radical bill tilts rulemaking in favor of special interests – opening the door for large corporations to manipulate the regulatory process in their favor, undermining the interests of small businesses in the marketplace. The bill burdens the existing regulatory process with unneeded and costly new requirements, including creating needless grounds for additional judicial review and imposing unrealistic analytic requirements on federal agencies. The President threatened to veto this bill last Congress and re-issued his veto threat this Congress.

• Rulemaking for Special Interests Attempt 5 (Regulatory Integrity Protection Act, H.R. 1732) – Instead of creating jobs, this bill tilts rulemaking in favor of special interests – by abruptly blocking the issuing of the upcoming final rule on clarifying which waterways are covered by the Clean Water Act, despite the years of work that went into it. The bill then calls for restarting the regulatory process all over again and adds unreasonable and unnecessary hurdles, sought by industry, that EPA would have to overcome in the new rulemaking process. The President threatened to veto this bill last Congress and re-issued his veto threat this Congress.

• Exploding the Deficit By Providing Corporations $182 Billion in Permanent, Unpaid-For Tax Cuts Act (American Research and Competitiveness Act, H.R. 880) – Instead of creating jobs, this bill is part of a GOP 10-bill package of permanent tax measures, unpaid for, that explodes the deficit by nearly $600 billion over 10 years. This bill alone increases the deficit by $182 billion – by making permanent the R&D tax credit, unpaid for. Democrats strongly support the R&D tax credit but believe it should be not be made permanent by adding to the deficit without any revenue offsets and also believe this proposal should be considered as part of comprehensive tax reform. The President threatened to veto this bill last Congress and re-issued his veto threat this Congress.

• Exploding the Deficit By Providing Businesses $79 Billion in Permanent, Unpaid-For Tax Cuts Act (America's Small Business Tax Relief Act, H.R. 636) – Instead of creating jobs, this bill is part of a GOP 10-bill package of permanent tax measures, unpaid for, that explodes the deficit by nearly $600 billion over 10 years. This bill alone increases the deficit by $79 billion – by, among other provisions, making permanent expanded "Section 179" expensing for small businesses, unpaid for. Democrats strongly support "Section 179" expensing but believe it should not be made permanent by adding to the deficit and also believe that this proposal should be considered as part of comprehensive tax reform. The President threatened to veto this bill last Congress and re-issued his veto threat this Congress.

• Exploding the Deficit By Providing $14.3 Billion in Permanent, Unpaid-For Tax Cuts Act (Fighting Hunger Incentive Act, H.R. 644) – Instead of creating jobs, this bill is part of a GOP 10-bill package of permanent tax measures, unpaid for, that explodes the deficit by nearly $600 billion over 10 years. This bill alone increases the deficit by $14.3 billion. The bill permanently extends enhanced tax breaks for certain charitable donations by adding to the deficit, without offsetting the cost. Democrats support extending tax breaks for charitable donations but not without offsetting the cost. The President threatened to veto this bill last Congress and re-issued his veto threat this Congress.

• Repealing Patient Protections, Stripping Millions of Their Coverage, and Raising Taxes Act (Repealing Obamacare, H.R. 596) – Instead of creating jobs, this bill strips millions of Americans of their affordable health coverage, including the 16.4 million Americans who had been uninsured previously; allows insurers to once again deny coverage to Americans with pre-existing conditions, place lifetime and annual limits on coverage, and deny young adults the ability to stay on their parents' plan; raises taxes on millions of families by taking away their premium tax credits; and increases the deficit by $109 billion. It does this by completely repealing the Affordable Care Act. The President threatened to veto this bill last Congress and re-issued his veto threat this Congress.

• Causing One Million People to Lose Their Employer-Sponsored Coverage Act (Save American Workers Act, H.R. 30) – Instead of creating jobs, this bill, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, would cause one million people to lose their employer-sponsored coverage, increase the number of uninsured by up to 500,000, and increase the deficit by $53 billion. This bill, by changing the definition of full-time work in the Affordable Care Act, would lead to fewer hours and more part-time work for America's workers—the opposite of what proponents claim. The President threatened to veto this bill last Congress and re-issued his veto threat this Congress.

• Unprecedented, Radical Assault on Women's Health Care Act (No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion, H.R. 7) – Instead of creating jobs, this radical bill places unprecedented restrictions on how women with private insurance can spend private dollars in purchasing health insurance.  The bill unnecessarily restricts the private insurance choices that women have today. It would result in millions of women working for small businesses losing access to comprehensive coverage. It would also result in millions of women buying coverage in Marketplaces having no access to comprehensive coverage. The President threatened to veto this bill last Congress and re-issued his veto threat this Congress.

• A Second Unprecedented, Radical Assault on Women's Health Care Act (Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, H.R. 36) – Instead of creating jobs, this radical, unconstitutional bill restricts women's access to the full range of health care services. The bill bans abortions after 20 weeks (the medical community defines viability at 24 weeks), and includes no meaningful exception to protect a woman's health. The bill would deny care to women in the most desperate of circumstances and is a blatant attempt to chip away at a woman's right to choose. The President threatened to veto this bill last Congress and re-issued his veto threat this Congress.

• Granting a Regulatory Earmark to A Foreign Corporation Act (Keystone XL Pipeline Act, S. 1) –Instead of creating jobs, this bill grants a regulatory earmark to TransCanada Corporation, effectively exempting TransCanada's Keystone XL tar sands pipeline from all federal permitting requirements, including requirements that apply to every other construction project in this country. The bill automatically authorizes the construction of the pipeline – bypassing the longstanding and proven State Department permitting process for pipelines that cross international borders. The President threatened to veto the bill last Congress. This year, the President vetoed S. 1 on February 24, and the Senate failed to override his veto by a vote of 62 to 37 on March 4.

• Stacking EPA Advisory Board with Industry Representatives Act (EPA Science Advisory Board Reform Act, H.R. 1029) – Instead of creating jobs, this bill paves the way for industry to have a greater influence over EPA by stacking the EPA Science Advisory Board with industry representatives and weakening scientific review. The bill also favors industry by creating unnecessary procedural hurdles that will delay the Board's scientific advice and ultimately EPA actions to protect the health and safety of the American people. The President threatened to veto this bill last Congress and re-issued his veto threat this Congress.

• Preventing EPA From Functioning Effectively and Using the Most Relevant Scientific Data Act (Secret Science Reform Act, H.R. 1030) – Instead of creating jobs, this bill would prevent EPA from functioning effectively and using the most relevant scientific data – including data that is legally protected from public disclosure. (Key research studies often involve personal health information and other confidential data that is legally protected from disclosure.)   The bill states that all scientific research used by EPA must be publicly available.   The President threatened to veto this bill last Congress and re-issued his veto threat this Congress.