June 2013 Legislative Agenda

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MEMORANDUMTO: House RepublicansFR: Eric CantorDT: Friday, May 31, 2013RE: June Legislative Agenda

As Americans observed Memorial Day earlier this week, I hope we all paused to remember those bravemen and women who made the ultimate sacrifice to protect our freedoms here at home. Every day, Iam reminded of the courageous blanket of freedom that our men and women in uniform have selflesslyprovided for us. We thank all of our veterans and military families, and mourn with those who have losttheir loved ones. During the next month, we will honor our troops, past and present, by passingmultiple bipartisan bills to fund and authorize our national security apparatus and to provide care andsupport to our returning heroes.

House Republicans remain focused on making like work for all Americans by creating an economyfocused on growth and productivity. We will continue our efforts to increase domestic energyproduction to foster an environment of economic growth and lower costs for working families. We will

consider important reforms to our nations farm and nutrition programs. We will put pediatric diseaseresearch ahead of politics. We will provide Americans with pre-existing conditions access to healthinsurance through conservative solutions of high-risk pools. And we will continue our oversight effortsof the administration in light of the numerous issues worthy of our scrutiny.

Members should expect a heavy legislative work-period on the floor as we consider a number of bills theHouse traditionally passes during the summer months. In addition to the legislation listed below,additional needs may arise and could alter the legislative outlook for the month.

Domestic Energy

Increasing our domestic energy with an all-of-the-above approach will increase economic growth and jobs, boost manufacturing, and make energy more affordable. In order to grow our economy andincrease Americas energy independence, we need to responsibly develop both our onshore andoffshore oil and natural resources in an environmentally responsible manner. We need to expandonshore energy production by streamlining the permitting process, providing leasing certainty andfacilitating oil and gas shale development. Chairmen Doc Hastings, Fred Upton, and their committeemembers will take the lead as we look to grow jobs and reduce the cost of energy for all Americans.

Appropriations

The power of the purse is one of Congresss most basic and important Constitutional responsibilities,deriving from Clause 7, Section 9 o f Article I which states, No money sh all be drawn from the Treasury,but in consequence of Appropriations made by Law. In light of this, I expect to begin the FY2014appropriations process the first week in June. Chairman Hal Rogers and his committee members areworking hard to produce twelve bills which reflect judicious spending of the publics money. The overallspending level contained in the twelve appropriations bills is written to the sequester-level of $967billon. As Republicans have committed, we will have an open amendment process so every membermay have a say on how taxpayer money is spent. Please find below a list of the first four bills for whichwe will consider next month:

Military Construction/Veterans Affairs (subcommittee chair John Culberson)


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Homeland Security (subcommittee chair John Carter) Defense (subcommittee chair Bill Young) Agriculture (subcommittee chair Robert Aderholt)

Consistent with our desire to proceed through regular order by passing individual appropriations billsthrough the House, we can fund our priorities, eliminate wasteful federal spending, and enact policychange through funding limitations.

I would also remind members that during the consideration of appropriations bills, the House will likelyhold recorded votes past 7:00 p.m.

Defense Authorization

Our troops deserve all the tools and resources necessary to protect the freedoms that Americans enjoy.Chairman Buck McKeon and his committee members will produce a bipartisan National DefenseAuthorization bill, H.R. 1960, which reflects our commitment to our men and women in uniform - thetroops who fight for our freedoms every day. Most importantly, this bill provides our warfighters,veterans, and their families with the support they earned through their solemn service and I look

forward to its passage in the House.

Intelligence Authorization

Since the beginning of the 112th Congress, Chairman Mike Rogers, Ranking Member DutchRuppersberger, and the rest of the Intelligence Committee members have ushered in a robust era of oversight of the Intelligence Community. I expect Mike to bring forth another bipartisan authorizationbill to fund our U.S. intelligence and intelligence-related activities critical to national security. It is ourresponsibility to provide the men and women who serve in our Intelligence Community with theresources and authorities they need to combat our enemies in these times of increased terrorist threatsand unconventional warfare. I look forward to swift passage in the House.

Farm Bill

Chairman Frank Lucas and the Agriculture Committee members have drafted a bipartisan five-year farmbill, H.R. 1947, The Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act , and I expect this bill to beconsidered next month. This bill, together with the effects of sequestration, reflects almost $40 billion insavings reductions through eliminating and reforming wasteful government programs and consolidatingmore than 100 programs. Over $20 billion in savings comes from much-needed reforms to theSupplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) , including eliminating benefits for lottery winnersand applying asset and resources tests to all applicants. I commend the chairman and his entirecommittee for their efforts and I look forward to a robust debate and an open process on the Housefloor.

Kids First Research Act

H.R. 2019, The Kids First Research Act , introduced by Gregg Harper, Tom Cole, and Peter Welch clearlyreflects Congressional priorities in funding: medical research before political parties and conventions.In the era of limited federal resources, it is critical that we set the right priorities and now more thanever our priority should be medical breakthroughs that help children who are suffering from diseasesand disorders like autism, juvenile diabetes, Down syndrome, and cancer. This bipartisan bill eliminatesthe Presidential Election Campaign Fund and diverts the remaining money, approximately $130 million,


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to expand pediatric research at the National Institutes of Health.

Helping Sick Americans

Chairman Fred Upton, Joe Pitts, Michael Burgess, and Ann Wagner deserve great credit for the workthey have done on H.R. 1549, The Helping Sick Americans Now Act . To address the concerns raisedseveral weeks ago, an amended version of the bill has been drafted. The amendment will fully repealthe Prevention and Public Health slush fund (PPHF) which the administration is using to implementObamacare through hundred million dollar advertisement campaigns and new navigators. Theamendment does not utilize or fund the existing PCIP program, which will expire at the end of the year.Instead, the amendment provides funding for state based high risk pools, the framework that representsthe conservative policy answer to helping Americans with preexisting conditions. States will be able toapply this year for funding to support their based high risk pools. In FY 2014, the state high risk poolfunding is subject to appropriations, and therefore by definition, is not a new entitlement. The textmakes clear that the Secretary of Health and Human Services cannot require states to comply with anypolicy in Obamacare as prerequisite or condition of participation. Furthermore, the Secretary isrequired to develop a funding formula based on estimates provided by and in consultation with thestate of the number of individuals with pre-existing conditions in each state. CBO preliminarily

estimates that the language would reduce direct spending by $8.5 billion over the 2013-2023 period.

Oversight

As the last few weeks have demonstrated, congressional oversight is not only a constitutional duty, butalso a vitally important check and balance to the Obama administration. Over 100 oversight hearingswere held in May and I am proud of the work each of our committees put into these hearings.

During June and the coming months, the House will continue to hold the Administration accountable.We will continue our work to determine who directed IRS employees to target conservative groups, whyit was done, and who knew about it. We will follow the facts and continue in our efforts to uncover the

truth behind the attacks in Benghazi. We will explore DOJ's actions in seizing phone records and emailsof the news media. We will also continue our oversight of the implementation of Obamacare and theAdministration's energy policy.

Conclusion

We have a busy month ahead of us and July will be just as busy, with our continued focus on making lifework for Americans through our conservative solutions. During that stretch, members should expect anumber of important issues to reach the house floor, including: the continuation of the appropriationsprocess; action to reform No Child Left Behind with the help of Chairman John Kline and his committeemembers; addressing overbearing regulations through the good work of Chairman Bob Goodlatte andthe Judiciary Committee members. We will also continue our focus on how to deal with our brokenimmigration system as well as the debt limit.

Thank you for all the hard work you do on behalf of your constituents and all Americans.

Eric

Documents

June 2013 Legislative Agenda