The House will continue consideration of the GOP 2015 budget on Wednesday afternoon, and also vote on a bill to exempt expatriates’ health plans from ObamaCare.
The bill, H.R. 4414, will be taken up under suspension of the rules requiring a two-thirds majority. It marks a departure from recent votes to undermine or repeal the healthcare law because the measure is expected to have broad bipartisan support.
{mosads}The proposal would apply to individuals who work abroad, such as pilots and foreign aid workers, who receive coverage through expatriate health insurance plans.
On the budget, the House has two hours of debate left. Once that debate ends, members will start considering various alternative budget plans — some of these will get votes late Wednesday, others will get votes Thursday. The alternative proposals are:
– The Congressional Black Caucus budget amendment, which spends $3.26 trillion in 2015.
– The $3.2 trillion Congressional Progressive Caucus budget amendment.
– President Obama’s $3.1 trillion budget, which will be offered by Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.) as an amendment and attempt to force Democrats to go on the record on the president’s proposal.
The three alternative budgets above will get votes today. The other alternatives will get votes on Thursday:
– The $3.1 trillion House Democratic Caucus budget amendment.
– The $2.82 Republican Study Committee budget amendment.
All of those budget amendments are expected to fail. A vote on final passage of Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) budget is not expected until Thursday.
The Senate starts at 10 a.m. and will hold a procedural vote at 11 a.m. on a bill aimed at ensuring equal pay for women. It’s unlikely Democrats will get the 60 votes needed to end debate on the motion to proceed to S. 2199, the Paycheck Fairness Act. Republicans wanted to vote on several amendments to the bill, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has blocked their efforts.
Also Wednesday, the Senate will debate and vote on at least two Executive Branch nominations. At a time to be determined by leaders, the Senate will vote on the nominations of Terrell McSweeny to be a Federal Trade Commissioner and Wanda Felton to be vice president of the Export-Import Bank.