During a short Third Quarter, Congress continued working to complete the twelve Fiscal Year (“FY”) 2008 appropriations bills, but was forced to pass a Continuing Resolution prior to the end of the 2007 fiscal year, which concluded on September 30th, since none of the FY 2008 appropriations bills had been finalized (see EYE ON CONGRESS: FY 2008 Appropriations and FY 2008 Continuing Resolution respectively). Congress also focused on General David Petraeus’ report on Iraq, released in early September, as well as the reauthorization of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (“SCHIP”) and the Water Resources Development Act (“WRDA”), which were both vetoed by the President. The House was unable to override the SCHIP veto, but passed a revised bill the week of October 26th while the Senate passed its revised SCHIP bill the following week. The House and Senate were able to override the WRDA veto, which authorizes funding for flood control, navigation and environmental restoration projects by the Army Corps of Engineers, with a two-thirds majority approval that enabled the bill to become law on November 8th (P.L. 110-114). The House also passed a measure to revise and overhaul the Federal Housing Administration’s mortgage lending practices while the Senate passed the FY 2008 Defense Authorization/Iraq War supplemental in early October, which is now awaiting House action.

With regard to Indian affairs related legislation, several bills with significant impact to Indian Country saw action in the Third Quarter, including the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (“IHCIA”), Native American Housing and Self Determination Act (“NAHASDA”), Head Start Reauthorization and Indian Head Start (see EYE ON CONGRESS: Indian Health Care Improvement Act, Indian Housing, and Head Start Reauthorization and Indian Head Start). The House also passed the Native Hawaiian Government Recognition bill in October.

The House and Senate are expected to take a two-week Thanksgiving recess beginning on Monday, November 19th and returning the week of December 3rd. The House will likely hold votes during the first and second week of December, though it is not expected to consider any new legislation after Thanksgiving, and instead will only focus on conference reports and clearing appropriations bills with the Senate. The Senate is expected to return to session after Thanksgiving for possibly three weeks, ending just prior to the Christmas holidays, with adjournment widely anticipated on or before December 22nd.

EYE ON CONGRESS

FY 2008 Appropriations. The House completed all twelve of its FY 2008 appropriations bills prior to the Third Quarter, with the Senate passing six of its bills since the beginning of September, for a total of seven FY 2008 appropriations bills completed thus far. Senate Majority Leader Reid has not indicated if or when the Senate will consider its remaining five FY 2008 appropriations bills: Energy and Water; Interior; Financial Services; Legislative Branch; and Agriculture.

On October 26th, House and Senate leadership decided to proceed with a “mini-bus” appropriations package including the Labor-Health and Human Services (“Labor-HHS”); Military Construction/Veterans’ Affairs; and Department of Defense appropriations bills. Formal conference on these three bills began late in the week of October 29th, with votes scheduled in the House and Senate on the final “mini-bus” package the week of November 5th in order to send to the President by Veteran’s Day. However, soon after formal conference negotiations began, House Leadership pulled the FY 2008 Defense appropriations bill from the package over concerns expressed by Republicans on the overall cost of the “mini-bus” and a Presidential veto threat. On November 8th, the House and Senate cleared two FY 2008 appropriations bills for the President’s consideration - Labor-Health and Human Services (“Labor-HHS”) and Department of Defense. House and Senate conferees approved the conference report for the FY 2008 Labor-HHS and Military Construction-Veterans’ Affairs appropriations bills, and the House immediately passed the conference report. However, the Senate removed the FY 2008 Military Construction-Veterans’ Affairs appropriations bill from the package and approved just the FY 2008 Labor-HHS appropriations bill. The President vetoed the FY 2008 Labor-HHS appropriations bill on November 13th, which the House failed to override on November 15th.

The FY 2008 Military Construction appropriations bill is now on-hold, and no further indication has been given on when the bill will be cleared for the President.

House and Senate conferees also approved, and Congress cleared for the President, the FY 2008 Department of Defense appropriations bill, in which conferees included a new Continuing Resolution (see FY 2008 Continuing Resolution below). The President signed the FY 2008 Department of Defense appropriations bill on November 13th.

FY 2008 Continuing Resolution. The initial Continuing Resolution (“CR”) that funded the federal government at FY 2007 funding levels expired on November 16, 2007. However, in the FY 2008 Department of Defense appropriations bill, House and Senate conferees included a new CR to provide temporary funding through December 14th to provide additional time for Congress to wrap up the FY 2008 appropriations bills. Although the new CR does not include funding for the Iraq war, it does provide additional funding for veterans’ programs since Congress has not yet cleared the FY 2008 Military Construction-Veterans’ Affairs appropriations bill.

H.R. 1328/S. 1200 - Indian Health Care Improvement Act (“IHCIA”) Reauthorization Legislation. Both the House and Senate continued considering IHCIA reauthorization in the Third Quarter. H.R. 1328 (Pallone, D-NJ), was approved by the House Natural Resources Committee (“HNRC”) in the First Quarter, and must also be approved by the House Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means Committees. The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health postponed its markup of the bill, originally scheduled for October 30th, and conducted the markup on November 7th (see COMMITTEE ACTION: Committee Markups below). There is indication that the House Energy and Commerce Full Committee might consider H.R. 1328 in early December. The House Ways and Means Committee is expected to take quick action on the H.R. 1328 following mark up by the full Energy and Commerce Committee.

The IHCIA Senate bill, S. 1200 (Dorgan, D-ND), has been approved by the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs (“SCIA”), and the Senate Finance Committee held a markup of the bill on September 12th. The bill is now awaiting action on the Senate floor.

H.R. 1429/S. 556 - Indian Head Start Provisions. In early September, House and Senate staff began extensive conference negotiations on the Head Start reauthorization, H.R. 1429 (Kildee, D-MI) and S. 556 (Kennedy, D-MA), both passed earlier this year. H.R. 1429 would improve program quality, expand access, and implement other changes, including an immediate 3.5 percent set aside for Indian Head Start, subject to a study and Secretarial determination on the level of need. H.R. 1429 would also require government-to-government consultation with Indian tribal governments to develop a correction plan before an Indian Head Start program can be found deficient and forced to re-compete. The Senate version, S. 556, provides a 4 percent set aside for Indian Head Start programs and would prevent other Head Start programs from expanding until the Indian and Migrant programs reach their respective set-aside amounts established in the bill.

On November 8th, House and Senate conferees met to approve the conference report on the House and Senate Head Start Act Reauthorization bills. The conferees agreed to a $50 million per year expansion of the Indian Head Start program with the increase to be phased in over several years, a 27 percent increase in the current size of the program. In addition, the conferees’ agreement provides that Indian Head Start will receive funding adjustments f