SPECIAL REPORT: IT’S DÉJÀ VU ALL OVER AGAIN

January 5, 2015
Blog Post

The House GOP's Agenda for the New Congress Turns Out to Be Just the Same Old

Ideological GOP Agenda We Saw Over the Last Two Years

"You've heard me talk many times about the many [House-passed] jobs bills that the outgoing Senate Majority has ignored.  Those bills will offer the Congress, I think, a new start."

-Speaker Boehner, Press Conference, 11/6/14

At Speaker Boehner's first press conference after the 2014 election, instead of discussing developing new bipartisan solutions to strengthen the middle class, create jobs, promote bigger paychecks, and grow the economy, he once again highlighted the GOP's list of House-passed faux "jobs" bills, and pledged to bring these so-called "jobs" bills up in the 114th Congress and get them to the President's desk.

Once again, the House GOP Leadership is trying to convince the American people that their Special-Interest, No Jobs Agenda is something other than a series of giveaways to special interests and the wealthiest few.

Speaker Boehner's list of 46 House-passed so-called "jobs" bills that were "stuck in the Senate" includes:

  • 36 ideological, partisan, special interest bills that are message bills to nowhere; and

  • 10 mostly modest bills that received bipartisan support in the House but failed for various reasons to make it through the Senate, but are not significant "jobs" bills.

The House GOP's 36 ideological, special interest so-called "jobs" bills focus in particular on three key themes:

  • Providing giveaways to such energy industries as Big Oil, gas, and coal, and weakening protections for everyday Americans in areas such as public health, the environment, food safety, and consumer safety;

  • Undermining and repealing the Affordable Care Act, thereby taking away Americans' new protections from being discriminated against for having pre-existing health conditions and taking away affordable health coverage from millions of Americans who are newly insured; and

  • Undermining and chipping away at Wall Street Reform, at the bidding of Wall Street banks, thereby eliminating reforms designed to hold the Big Banks accountable, provide key protections for American consumers, and ensure there will never be another taxpayer bailout of the Big Banks.

Speaker Boehner's Agenda Is A Formula For Continued Gridlock, With the Administration Having Earlier Issued Veto Threats On Most of the 36 GOP Ideological So-Called "Jobs" Bills

Speaker Boehner seems determined to replay the political and policy battles of the last two years, rather than starting afresh.

To highlight the fact that the agenda Speaker Boehner has laid out is simply a formula for continued gridlock,

it is interesting to note that, in the last Congress, the Administration issued formal veto threats on 28 of the 36 GOP ideological so-called "jobs" bills, while simply opposing several others.

These GOP bills from the 113th Congress were developed and written in an ideological, partisan manner – with no real outreach to the other side of the aisle.  As a result, they were generally passed with overwhelming opposition by Democrats and strong opposition from the Administration.  By simply re-passing these partisan bills in the 114th Congress, House Republicans will be doing nothing to address the urgent needs facing our country, including ensuring the middle class is benefiting from the recovery; creating more good-paying jobs; rebuilding America's infrastructure; fixing our broken immigration system; and making college more affordable.

The House-Passed GOP Ideological So- Called "Jobs" Bills Reportedly Up the First Two Weeks

Speaker Boehner is showing his determination to keep his pledge of spending 2015 bringing up again the so-called "jobs" bills House Republicans passed in the last Congress, by reportedly bringing up four of those bills in the first two weeks of this session.

The four House-passed GOP ideological so-called "jobs" bills reportedly coming up in the first two weeks are:

  • Redefining Full-Time Work Week Under ACA's Employer Responsibility Requirement  (H.R. 2575, GOP ACA 40-Hour Bill, introduced by Rep. Todd Young (R-IN), in 113th Congress; passed by House on 4/3/14).  This bill is another Republican giveaway to Big Business at the expense of the health security of American families.  Last year, CBO estimated that this GOP bill would significantly reduce the number of people receiving employment-based coverage.  CBO also estimated that the bill would increase the budget deficit by $45.7 billion.  The GOP bill provides a major change in ACA's requirement that larger employers offer health coverage to employees who work 30 or more hours a week or face a penalty – raising the threshold to 40 hours instead.   As the Administration stated in its veto threat of the bill in 2014, "The Administration strongly opposes House passage of H.R. 2575, the Save American Workers Act, because it would significantly increase the deficit and reduce the number of Americans with employer-based health insurance coverage. …. This legislation would weaken a provision of the Affordable Care Act that keeps employers from dropping health insurance coverage and shifting costs to taxpayers."

  • Keystone Pipeline Bill (H.R. 5682, introduced by Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), in 113th Congress; passed by House on 11/14/14).  Irrespective of the merits of the Keystone Pipeline XL project, the GOP rhetoric on this bill is fully overblown:  the GOP bill will not create permanent jobs and will not bring down gas prices for American consumers.  This GOP bill is unnecessary because the current State Department permitting process regarding the project is on track.  The State Department released their Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement on the new project application, and is now in the midst of the review period for the national interest determination.  The Administration's position is that this State Department process should be allowed to be completed.  Furthermore, this GOP bill ignores the ongoing litigation in the State of Nebraska which could affect the proposed pipeline route through the state.  This GOP bill would exempt any route changes from any environmental review whatsoever.

  • Natural Gas Pipeline Permitting Bill (H.R. 1900, so-called "Natural Gas Pipeline Permitting Reform Act," introduced by Rep Mike Pompeo (R-KS), in 113th Congress; passed by the House on 11/21/13).  Instead of creating jobs, this GOP bill is simply a special-interest gift to the natural gas industry.  As the Administration pointed out in its veto threat of the bill in 2013, "[The bill] would allow 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, license, or approval within rigid, unworkable timeframes."   The bill also attempts to solve a problem that does not exist.  The objective GAO has concluded that FERC's pipeline permitting is predictable and consistent and gets pipelines built.

Regulatory Accountability Bill (H.R. 2122, so-called "Regulatory Accountability Act," introduced by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), in 113th Congress; passed by the House as key part of H.R. 2804, an omnibus regulatory rollback bill, on 2/27/14).  Instead of creating jobs, this GOP bill tilts rulemaking in favor of special interests – attempting to throw sand in the gears of rulemaking by adding 60 new analytical requirements to the rulemaking process, and making it much easier for big business – banks, hedge funds, major polluters – to evade their obligations to protect the public by giving them numerous new opportunities to challenge rules throughout the process.  As the Administration pointed out in its veto threat of the bill in 2014, "The bill would impose unneeded and costly analytical and procedural requirements on agencies that would prevent them from performing their statutory responsibilities."