This Week on the Hill
The House and Senate return this week following a one-week recess, with work continuing on nominations and appropriations bills.
The House convenes Tuesday, with votes scheduled for several bills related to historic sites. On Wednesday the chamber will vote on reauthorizing the Project Safe Neighborhoods grants program (H.R. 3249) and H.R. 8, the Water Resources Development Act of 2018. For Thursday and the balance of the week, the House will vote on the first appropriations “minibus” (see additional information below) and may consider other legislative items. Several committees scheduled hearings this week: the Education and the Workforce Committee will hold a hearing Wednesday on the policies and priorities of the Department of Health and Human Services; the Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing Friday on the U.S. Census; and the Ways and Means Committee will hold a hearing Wednesday on consumer-directed health plans.
The Senate convenes today and will consider the nomination of a U.S. district judge in Kentucky. Several committees scheduled hearings this week: the Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing Tuesday on the 2018 wildland fire outlook and the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will hold a hearing Wednesday on S. 2836, the Preventing Emerging Threats Act.
Fiscal Year 2019 Budget Update
Budget work continues this week in both chambers after a one-week recess. The House plans to vote on the first appropriations “minibus” this week (H.R. 5895), which will group three spending bills together: Energy-Water, Legislative Branch, and Military Construction-Veterans Affairs. The full Appropriations Committee will hold a markup on the $35.3 billion Interior-Environment spending bill on Wednesday; the bill was approved by the subcommittee on a voice vote. The Senate will hold markups at the subcommittee level for the Transportation-Housing and Urban Development and Military Construction-Veterans Affairs spending bills on Tuesday, followed by a full committee markup on Thursday.
USDA Announces Rural Water Infrastructure Investments in 35 States
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently announced the investment of $256 million in 81 projects to improve water and wastewater infrastructure in rural areas in 35 states. The investment is a combination of $51.5 million in grants and $204.2 million in loans. The loans and grants are being awarded through USDA’s Water and Waste Disposal Loan and Grant program, with funds available to finance drinking water, storm water drainage and waste disposal systems for rural communities with 10,000 or fewer residents. The fiscal year 2018 omnibus spending bill provided an increase of $1.2 billion for water and wastewater projects and directed the Secretary of Agriculture to make investments in rural communities with the greatest infrastructure needs.
FTA Issues Final Rule to Encourage Private Sector Involvement in Transit Projects
Last Wednesday the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Transit Administration (FTA) issued a final rule on private investment project procedures. The rule describes new, experimental procedures to encourage increased project management flexibility, more innovation in project funding, improved efficiency, timely project implementation, and new project revenue streams for public transportation capital projects. The rule allows grantees the ability to identify FTA regulations, practices, procedures or guidance that may impede the use of a public-private partnership (P3) or private investment in that project; the FTA Administrator would have discretion to grant a modification or waiver of a requirement if certain criteria are met. The effective date for the final rule is June 29. Additional information on the rule can be found here.
SAMHSA Announces Availability of Funding for Opioids in Hardest Hit Areas
On Thursday the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) announced it was accepting applications for $196 million over three years to treat opioid use disorder through its Targeted Capacity Expansion: Medication Assisted Treatment-Prescription Drug Opioid Addiction grant program. The new funding will expand access to medication-assisted treatment and recovery support services to people with opioid use disorder. Eligibility is limited to the states, political subdivisions within states, and public and private nonprofit organizations in states with the highest rates of primary treatment admissions for heroin and prescription opioids per capita and includes those with the most dramatic increases, as identified by SAMHSA’s 2015 Treatment Episode Data Set. Tribes and tribal organizations across the U.S. are also eligible to receive funding. The funding opportunity notice can be found here; applications are due July 9.
CMS Releases Guidance on 21st Century Cures Act
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) provided guidance to assist states in implementing electronic visit verification systems for Medicaid personal care services and home health services. These requirements were specified in the 21st Century Cures Act (Cures Act), which was signed into law in December 2016. The guidance also includes Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) to provide responses to questions received from states since the passage of the Cures Act, including clarification on the specific types of personal care and home health services that must use electronic visit verification systems.
HUD Releases Public Housing Capital Fund Allocations
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently announced the allocation of $2.6 billion in annual funding to housing authorities in the 50 states, District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The grants are available through HUD’s Capital Fund Program, which offers annual funding to approximately 3,100 public housing authorities to build, repair, renovate and/or modernize the public housing in their communities. The complete list of allocations to state and local public housing authorities can be found here.
President Announces Steel, Aluminum Tariffs
On Thursday President Trump issued proclamations that reimpose steel and aluminum tariffs, at 25 percent and 10 percent respectively, on imports from Canada, Mexico and the European Union. This follows executive orders issued in April, directing the Commerce Department to investigate the national security threat of steel and aluminum imports; the department concluded that foreign-made steel and aluminum are economic and national security threats. Canada subsequently declared tariffs of up to $16.6 billion on U.S. steel, aluminum and other imports, while Mexico said it would adopt equivalent measures on a range of products, including food.
Recently Released Reports
Preparing Tomorrow's Public Service
The Volcker Alliance
Selected Approved Changes to State and Selected Local Public Pensions
National Association of State Retirement Administrators
States Can Safely Raise Their Felony Theft Thresholds
The Pew Charitable Trusts
Series: Elevating College Completion
Third Way and American Enterprise Institute
State of the Cities 2018
National League of Cities
Economic News
Economy Adds 223,000 Jobs in May
New data released last week by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 223,000 in May and the unemployment rate edged down to 3.8 percent, matching April 2000 as the lowest reading since the 1960s. The addition of 223,000 jobs was higher than the 190,000 expected by many economists. The data also shows that in May there were 6.1 million unemployed persons, down slightly from 6.3 million in April. The number of long-term unemployed (jobless for 27 weeks or more) was little changed at 1.2 million, accounting for 19.4 percent of the total unemployed. The labor force participation rate was little changed at 62.7 percent (down from 62.8 percent in April). In May, job gains occurred in retail trade (31,000), health care (29,000), construction (25,000), professional and technical services (23,000), transportation and warehousing (19,000), manufacturing (18,000) and mining (6,000). Employment saw little change for wholesale trade, information, financial activities, government, and leisure and hospitality. The average hourly earnings for all employees increased by 8 cents to $26.92 in May, following an increase of 4 cents in April. Over the year, average hourly earnings have risen by 71 cents, or 2.7 percent.
GDP Increase for the First Quarter of 2018 Decreases Slightly on Second Estimate
The U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Economic Analysis released the “second” estimate for real gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter of 2018, showing that GDP increased at an annual rate of 2.2 percent. The second estimate is based on more complete source data than were available for the “advance” estimate issued in April, which showed an increase of real GDP of 2.3 percent. According to the press release, the general picture of economic growth remains the same for the second estimate; downward revisions to private inventory investment, residential fixed investment, and exports were partly offset by an upward revision to nonresidential fixed investment.