Update from Washington, D.C.
House Votes to Impeach President Trump; FY 2020 Appropriations Legislation and Trade Deal Advance
December 19, 2019
On Wednesday, December 18, the House of Representatives voted along near-party lines to impeach President Donald J. Trump. After roughly eight hours of contentious floor debate, members cast votes on two separate articles of impeachment, namely: abuse of power, which was based upon the president’s alleged efforts to force the Ukrainian government to investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his family; and, obstruction of Congress, which centered on the president’s refusal to allow aides to testify or respond to subpoenas during the House impeachment inquiry.
In the end, all but two Democrats supported the article on abuse of power, with a total of three Democrats opposing the charge of obstruction of Congress. No Republicans voted for either article of impeachment.
Yesterday’s dramatic vote brings to an end the House Democratic-led inquiry into whether President Trump committed “high crimes and misdemeanors” in connection with his Ukraine dealings. At the same time, the highly partisan nature and ultimate outcome of the proceedings also will likely serve to jumpstart and hypercharge what was already expected to be a highly contentious presidential-election cycle.
Looking ahead, the action will shift to the Senate, where the Republican-controlled upper chamber will hold the trial phase of the impeachment process sometime early next year. As of this writing, it remains unclear how Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) intends to proceed. While some in the GOP are advocating for a truncated trial with no or very minimal witness testimony, other Republicans are calling for an extensive process that could feature Joe Biden’s son Hunter and other witnesses whom House Democrats refused to subpoena.
Congress Finalizes Fiscal Year 2020 Budget
Faced with a December 20th deadline to pass fresh spending authority for the entirety of the federal government, lawmakers released earlier this week the details of a massive $1.4 trillion fiscal year 2020 appropriations package. The long-awaited agreement – which appropriators broke into two separate bills (HR 1158 & HR 1865) – includes a $24.5 billion increase in nondefense discretionary spending as authorized by this summer’s budget accord (PL 116-37). The funding measures were approved by the House on December 17 and are in line to be cleared by the Senate later today. President Trump is expected to sign the bills into law ahead of this Friday’s deadline.
In addition to funding every federal department and agency through next September, the FY 2020 spending deal carries a variety of notable policy riders, several of which are of particular interest to California’s counties, including:
- A permanent repeal of the Affordable Care Act’s so-called “Cadillac tax.” The 40 percent excise tax on the most generous and expensive health-insurance plans was set to take effect in 2022.
- The text of the Family First Transition Act (HR 4980/S 2777), which is designed to help states and counties transition to requirements of the 2018 federal child welfare reform law (known as the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA)). Among other things, the final FY 2020 appropriations measure provides over $52 million to California for FFPSA implementation, as well as short-term bridge funding for those counties that had been operating now-expired Title IV-E waivers.
- A two-year extension of the Secure Rural Schools (SRS) program. In the absence of an SRS extension, the funding provided to counties earlier this year would have been the final payments distributed under the program.
- An extension of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) through fiscal year 2020 and a seven-year extension of the U.S. Export-Import Bank.
In addition to dismantling the aforementioned Cadillac tax, the final appropriations package includes a number of other tax repeals and renews several expiring industry-specific tax deductions and credits (i.e., tax breaks for biodiesel, renewable energy, etc.). According to the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation, the revenue reducing tax breaks in the spending legislation will cost the federal government more than $426 billion over the next decade.
With regard to President Trump’s border wall, the final budget deal provides the same $1.375 billion that Congress appropriated for the project in fiscal year 2019. While many Democrats insisted that the bill place limitations on the president’s authority to transfer funds from other accounts to help finance the wall, HR 1158 does not include any such restrictions. It should be noted that the White House’s decision earlier this year to use military construction funds to pay for border wall construction activities is currently under a nationwide injunction and remains the subject of several pending lawsuits.
Although the budget provides an overall net increase in domestic discretionary spending, not every individual program was the beneficiary of a funding boost. Saying that, lawmakers approved notable increases for a number of programmatic areas that are of importance to California’s counties, including increased funding for homeless assistance grants and housing and community development programs. Likewise, lawmakers boosted spending for several key justice assistance programs, as well as health and human services programs.
USMCA Trade Deal Set to Advance in the House
Just one day after casting votes to impeach President Trump, House Democratic leaders brought to the floor legislation that would implement the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). At press time, the chamber was set to overwhelming approve the bill (HR 5430) in what would be a rare showing of bipartisanship.
Touted by President Trump as a transformative agreement that will result in further gains to the U.S. economy, the USMCA, once fully implemented, would replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Among the USMCA’s reforms are a series of changes that are expected to help certain industries, including U.S. agricultural exports.
Although leaders of the three North American trading partners signed an initial version of the USMCA last November, congressional Democrats insisted on a number of revisions to the document. After months of tense discussions, the Trump administration agreed to modify provisions of the deal that govern the environment, labor protections, and enforcement.
Across Capitol Hill, Senate Majority Leader McConnell has indicated that the USMCA implementing legislation will be the first order of business for the upper chamber upon completion of the impeachment trial.