U.S. HOUSE
NATIONAL FLOOD INSURANCE: Voting 329 for and 90 against, the House on Thursday sent the Senate a bill (HR 5114) to renew National Flood Insurance at an authorized cost of $476 million over 10 years. The renewal, covering five years, would increase premiums and deductibles, raise residential and commercial coverage limits, delay purchase requirements in areas newly added to flood maps and provide $50 million annually in grants for programs to educate homeowners and renters about the program.
The bill increases maximum residential coverage from $350,000 to $470,000 for both structure and contents and maximum commercial coverage from $1 million to $1.3 million for structure and contents. It would raise by tenfold, to $1 million, the maximum civil penalties on lending institutions that fail to require flood insurance on mortgages where it is mandated. A yes vote was to pass the bill.
Voting yes: G.K. Butterfield, D-1; Bob Etheridge, D-2; Walter Jones, R-3; David Price, D-4; Mike McIntyre, D-7; Larry Kissell, D-8; Heath Shuler, D-11; Melvin Watt, D-12; Brad Miller, D-13
Voting no: Virginia Foxx, R-5; Howard Coble, R-6; Sue Myrick, R-9; Patrick McHenry, R-10
FEDERAL TELECOMMUTING: Voting 290 for and 131 against, the House on Wednesday passed a deficit-neutral bill (HR 1722) to greatly increase the number of civil servants allowed by their agencies to work from home or remote telecommuting centers at least one day each week. The bill would require all agencies to establish "telework" programs, put a senior manager in charge, expand employee participation and set up an appeals process for those denied participation. The vote sent the bill to a House-Senate conference committee. Backers said well-managed telecommuting makes it easier for the government to compete with the private sector for skilled personnel, eases traffic congestion and cuts reliance on foreign oil. Critics said telework promotes worker inefficiency and could easily cost taxpayers more than it purports to save. A yes vote was to pass the bill.
Voting yes: Butterfield, Etheridge, Jones, Price, McIntyre, Kissell, Shuler, Watt, Miller
Voting no: Foxx, Coble, Myrick, McHenry
REPUBLICAN MOTION: Voting 303 for and 119 against, the House on Wednesday approved GOP-sponsored changes to HR 1722 (above). In part, the motion requires agencies to certify their telecommuting programs are saving money, bars conducting public business with personal e-mail accounts and prohibits civil servants from engaging in union activities or viewing pornography online while telecommuting. A yes vote backed the motion.
Voting yes: Etheridge, Jones, Foxx, Coble, McIntyre, Kissell, Myrick, McHenry, Shuler
Voting no: Butterfield, Price, Watt, Miller
U.S. SENATE
FINANCIAL REGULATIONS: Voting 60 for and 39 against, the Senate on Thursday sent President Barack Obama a bill (HR 4173) to enact strict financial regulations and consumer protections intended to improve the odds against further catastrophic breakdowns of the U.S. economy. Reversing decades of financial deregulation in Washington, the 2,300-page bill now will be translated into many more pages of agency rules, with most major impacts not to be felt until 2012 or later. The bill addresses many of the reckless or illegal business practices and hands-off governmental policies that led to the investment-bank failures, taxpayer bailouts, savings evaporations, mortgage foreclosures, retirement cancellations and persistently high unemployment that define the ongoing Great Recession.
The bill creates a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau with power to write and enforce rules against home-mortgage lenders, payday lenders and other firms that sell retail financial services, but which will not regulate auto dealerships or banks with less than $10 billion in assets. Though based in the Federal Reserve, the bureau would operate independently with its own budget and a chairman nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. The bill authorizes the federal Comptroller of the Currency to override state consumer-protection laws that are stronger than federal ones.
Additionally, the bill establishes a Financial Stability Oversight Council to spot and prevent systemic risks to the economy; gives federal regulators tools for liquidating failed institutions in an orderly fashion; cracks down on conflicts-of-interest by credit-rating agencies; outlaws many types of easy-credit mortgages; limits banks' direct investments in the stock market; requires hedge funds and other private-equity firms to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission and permanently raises the cap on federal deposit insurance from $100,000 to $250,000.The bill would start federal regulation of the $600 trillion derivatives industry that was at the heart of the economic meltdown. These rules require contracts to be traded on exchanges and cleared by a third party; force banks and investment firms to spin off certain derivatives units; establish real-time transparency for the prices of derivatives contracts; require trades to be reported as they occur to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and require derivatives buyers to post adequate reserves against potential losses. A yes vote was to pass the bill.
Voting yes: Kay Hagan, D
Voting no: Richard Burr, R
KEY VOTES AHEAD
This week, the House will take up bills on jobless benefits and the Gulf Coast oil spill
The Senate will vote on whether to confirm Solicitor General Elena Kagan for the Supreme Court.
