July 31, 2015-President Obama signs into law the 35th short-term extension of the surface transportation programs that keeps programs running through October 29, 2015, a measure created to give the U.S. House and Senate time to bring legislation to a joint conference committee in the fall.
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The Senate approved the two-week funding stopgap measure from the House on Thursday.
Republican Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Democrat Patty Murray of Washington, sponsors of the original bill in the Senate, said the compromise measure marked a proud moment for Congress that would help end uncertainty in federal education policy. “Let me put an exclamation point on that”, Shuster said during the meeting.
The bill would stop the resettlement of Syrian refugees until national security officials certify that individuals do not pose a threat to the country.
Cuellar says “properly” vetting claims for refugee and asylum status is important to know “who they are”.
For those keeping score, over the last few months, Senate Democrats have used the filibuster – which they railed against and eroded while in the majority – to block a bill to pay our troops, to prevent any vote on President Obama’s reckless Iran deal, to hold up funding for the VA, and to obstruct legislation helping victims of human trafficking because it didn’t spend taxpayer dollars on abortions.
One top Senate GOP aide said it was unlikely that chamber would consider the House bill.
An amendment from Sen.
Cornyn said the House bill is a candidate for including in the omnibus “if it doesn’t pass otherwise”.
Like the Senate, the House called for a 2 percent increase in the caps, but the chambers disagreed on several other provisions. The odds of a new Syrian refugee committing an act of terrorism the United States is exactly zero. But the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order not to get ahead of the legislative process, said, “We are very encouraged and pleased by the proposal as we understand it now”. That’s in addition to the current screening process, which takes up to two years. The House also passed a bill fundamentally based upon that same consensus.
Democratic leaders are pushing it as an alternative to the House bill to provide political cover to their colleagues.
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That program allows electric customers and local governments to sell excess solar power they generate back to the electrical grid in exchange for credit. The legislation now goes to the House. One bill would force Americans who join overseas terrorist groups to renounce their USA citizenship; a second would “immediately bar refugees” from any country “including Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria, or Yemen, that contains territory substantially controlled by a foreign terrorist organization”, with exceptions for groups that are victims of genocide, Cruz’s office said. Instead, the California Democrat argued there are more pressing issues like reforming the visa waiver program and making sure people on the terrorist watch list can’t buy guns.
