This week: Budget and Puerto Rico top agenda

House Republicans will try to chart a path forward on legislation to help resolve Puerto Rico’s debt crisis, while the Senate plows ahead with its first 2017 spending bill despite the budget impasse across the Capitol.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is turning toward the appropriations process as he tries to get all 12 individual bills through the upper chamber. 

Yet it’s unclear how many of those bills can be signed into law. House Republicans appear unlikely to pass a budget resolution this year due to internal divisions over whether they should backtrack on last year’s bipartisan spending deal. 

{mosads}The House might still proceed with appropriations bills after May 15 without passing a budget, but GOP leaders haven’t yet decided on a strategy. Discussions on a resolution to the impasse will continue this week.

Moreover, Congress hasn’t cleared all 12 individual spending bills since the 1990s.

McConnell filed cloture on proceeding to a House bill that will be used as a vehicle for the Senate’s energy and water spending bill. Appropriations bills considered in the Senate will adhere to the top-line spending level outlined in last year’s budget agreement. 

The move sets up lawmakers to take an initial procedural vote after they wrap up their work on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization bill. 

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved its energy and water spending bill last Thursday, providing $37.5 billion for the Department of Energy and the Army Corps of Engineers. 

“The bill Sen. [Dianne] Feinstein [D-Calif.] and I have negotiated puts us one step closer to doubling basic energy research, invests in our waterways, and helps to resolve the nuclear waste stalemate,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.). 

He added that he hopes the Senate is able to pass the proposal this week. 

While the legislation passed the committee with bipartisan support, it could face a fight once it gets to the floor. 

Senators noted during the committee markup that they were holding off on controversial amendments —including defending the Obama administration’s Clean Water Rule — until it hit the Senate floor.

Puerto Rico

House Republicans are trying to rework legislation to address Puerto Rico’s debt crisis amid a looming May 1 default that could roil financial markets.

The House Natural Resources Committee abruptly called off a markup of a bill last week when it became clear that the vote count was shaky.

Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) downplayed the notion that the legislation would have to be amended significantly in order to assuage concerns from both parties. 

Conservatives want to ensure that public pensions and unions aren’t given priority over investors, while Democrats are trying to prioritize pension benefits.

“The bill is not going to change substantially,” Bishop said after a House GOP conference meeting on Friday. “But if we can tweak a few things to give people a comfort level, we will.”

The legislation would create an outside control board, which would be stacked with members nominated by both parties, to oversee Puerto Rico’s finances. In exchange for the review board, Puerto Rico would be allowed to restructure some of its debt.

GOP leaders have been pushing the message to their members that the legislation does not amount to a “bailout” in the hopes that it will mitigate the effects of ads from an outside group.

No new markup has been scheduled yet, but Bishop could call one as soon as this week if negotiations move quickly. 

Tax Day commemoration

The House is expected to consider a slate of bills aimed at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in commemoration of the deadline for Americans to file their tax returns.

This year’s deadline is on Monday instead of the usual April 15 to accommodate a District of Columbia holiday.

House Republicans plan to seize upon the deadline to highlight proposed reforms to the IRS. The six bills on tap include proposals to ban employees from receiving bonuses until the agency establishes a plan to improve customer service; prohibit the IRS from re-hiring individuals who had been fired for misconduct; and prevent hiring new IRS employees until the Treasury Department certifies that none of its current employees have serious tax delinquencies. 

Two other measures expected to pass easily with bipartisan support would prevent the agency from using funds to target citizens for exercising First Amendment rights and require the IRS to provide printed copies of the official instructions for filing taxes to accommodate people with limited internet access. 

The GOP will continue to hammer the IRS on the scrutiny of conservative groups nearly two years after the House voted to hold the now-former official at the center of the controversy, Lois Lerner, in contempt of Congress. The Justice Department closed its two-year investigation last fall without any charges against Lerner.

“Our tax code is a modern-day embodiment of Dante’s circles of hell,” House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and five other Republicans wrote in a Townhall.com op-ed.

“And on top of all that, IRS employees seem to play by different rules than the rest of us, leading to scandals that only exacerbate the people’s distrust of their government,” they wrote.

Energy bill, Flint

The Senate is reviving a long-stalled energy reform bill, though a separate package on aid for the Flint, Mich., drinking water crisis remains stuck. McConnell locked in votes on amendments, and the underlying bill, last week. 

The exact timing of the votes is up to McConnell and Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), but the bill could be back on the Senate floor this week. 

It’s unclear if the Senate will wrap up the energy bill before it starts work on the energy appropriations bill. 

While Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said Friday she expects the energy reform legislation to go first, GOP leadership, separately, indicated the opposite. 

The energy reform legislation has wide bipartisan support and Reid suggested Democrats would back it. 

“I’m gratified that we’re able to reach this agreement. This is an important piece of legislation,” he said. “We’re trying to work things out through compromise. This is a good opportunity for us to show that we can do that.” 

The announcement came after Democratic Sens. Bill Nelson (Fla.) and Debbie Stabenow (Mich.) dropped their holds on the energy reform bill. 

Stabenow otherwise supported the legislation, but had placed a hold on it to try to get movement on a separate aid package for the Flint, Mich., drinking water crisis. 

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) is still blocking that legislation, through Democrats are pledging to try to find a path forward. The bipartisan energy bill stalled earlier this year after a floor fight erupted over providing help to Flint. After Democrats initially pressed for $600 million, lawmakers spent weeks negotiating a $250 million package to pay for water infrastructure repairs in Flint and elsewhere. 

FAA

Senators will also wrap up consideration of a long-term reauthorization of FAA programs this week. 

The legislation would greenlight FAA programs through fiscal 2017, after lawmakers sent a short-term bill—expiring on July 15—to President Obama’s desk. 

The Senate will take a procedural vote on Monday evening, with 60 votes needed to overcome the hurdle. The move would set up a final vote likely early Wednesday, unless lawmakers can agree to yield back some of the 30 hours of debate time.

Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), who is managing the bill for Republicans, had hoped to get the legislation cleared through the upper chamber last week, but lawmakers got snagged on an amendment fight and couldn’t get a deal to speed up votes. 

Thune had tried to set up additional amendment votes for Thursday, but was blocked by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). In turn, Sen. Bill Nelson (Fla.), the lead Democrat on the legislation, tried to set up amendment votes but was blocked by Thune. 

Senators also dropped a plan to include a package of energy tax extenders in the legislation, with Democrats arguing that Republicans were caving to pressure from the Koch brothers. 

“It’s highly likely that if every Democrat had voted for the tax provision there wouldn’t have been the 60 votes,” Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) told reporters. “[Republicans] just didn’t have the votes. I don’t believe they could have gotten 16 votes.”

Recruiting women for science fields

One item on the House’s Monday schedule will be a measure to amend an Agriculture Department program so that it prioritizes increasing the number of women and minorities in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. 

The bill would rename the grant program after Jeannette Rankin, the first woman elected to Congress a century ago who also held a degree in biology.

“More must be done to encourage women to run for elected office and to enter STEM fields,” the bill states.

Lawmakers are expected to pass the noncontroversial legislation easily on a bipartisan basis. But there could be a few holdouts in the roll call just as with two similar bills the House passed last month to encourage recruiting women for science fields. 

Four male House Republicans voted against those measures. One of the lawmakers in opposition warned of potential reverse sexism if the federal government is directed to prioritize recruiting women.

– Peter Schroeder contributed.