October Legislative News
Shipping Manifest Bill Paused Due to Speaker Vacancy
Last week, an unprecedented fallout from the passage of a 45-day continuing resolution (CR) that averted a government shutdown when eight House Republicans and all Democrats voted to oust Rep Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) as speaker of the House. The motion to vacate the chair, as the parliamentary procedure is known, was made by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and was permitted under the House rules package adopted in January that allowed for a single member to force a vote on whether to depose the sitting speaker. Rules in previous Congresses have required several members to make the motion to vacate.
Without an elected speaker, all proceedings in the House are stalled. The vote for a new speaker is scheduled to get underway Wednesday and will pit Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) against Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH). Even under a new speaker, the issues that divide Republicans remain, ranging from overall spending levels to aid to Ukraine to how the House should consider appropriations bills. The CR expires on November 17, as do authorizations for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and programs in the Farm Bill, while Congress also must still act on the National Defense Authorization Act before the year ends.
While the House navigates these historically uncharted waters, the Senate is attempting to assemble packages of several spending bills, also known as “minibus” bills.
House Committee Pauses Shipping Manifest Bill
Rep. McCarthy’s removal brought action in the House to a standstill, prompting Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), in his capacity as speaker pro tempore, to send members home for the week. The disruption caused the House Ways and Means Committee to postpone considering a bill requiring U.S. Customs and Border Protection to remove personal information from international household goods shipping manifests before releasing that information to the public. Military families returning home from overseas have had their personal information released. The Senate already passed their version of the bill in the Spring.
Logistics Industry Bills Ready for Action this Fall
The removal of the speaker of the House has thrown into question the fate of several bills affecting the trucking sector and has injected greater doubt into whether Congress can reach a bipartisan spending agreement before the CR expires on November 17.
Once regular order recommences in the House:
- Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act: The bill would establish $755 million in grant funding to increase the number of safe truck parking spaces. The House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee approved the bill in May. If and when the House returns to regular order, the truck parking language should be included in a supply chain package.
- Veteran Improvement Commercial Driver License Act: The bill cuts red tape for military veterans attempting to leverage their GI bill benefits to receive training for a CDL.
- The Freedom to Invest in Tomorrow’s Workforce Act: Legislation that increases flexibility for funds invested in a higher education savings plan, like a 529, to use them for career and technical education programs, including CDL training. The bill language could be included in either a tax package or a workforce development package.
- LICENSE Act: The bill would modernize the rules for obtaining a CDL by making permanent key waivers adopted in the pandemic era to streamline the process. Under the bill, examiners can give both the CDL skills test and knowledge test, and it allows examiners to give the skills test without regard to where the applicant received training.
- Modern, Clean, and Safe Trucks Act: A bill to repeal the 12% federal excise tax, or FET, on heavy trucks and trailers. The excise tax tacks on thousands of dollars to the purchase price of modern, safe, low-carbon-emission trucks, putting them out of reach for most companies and fleets. The passage of the legislation would make such environmentally friendly trucks more affordable, passing the savings along the supply chain to consumers.
NMFTA anticipates that this Fall’s activity will include consideration by the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee of supply chain legislation and oversight of the administration’s carbon emissions reduction agenda by the Energy & Commerce Committee. It is worth advising this legislative summary was complied by Britton Mullen who is the founding Principal of BC Consulting LLC, a government affairs consulting firm located in Washington DC.
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