19E - FED & STATE LOBBYIST SUMMARY

Home Browse Search

On January 31, San Francisco (city and county) sued over the President's authority to withhold funding from "sanctuary cities." Subsequently, Santa Clara County, and Chelsea and Lawrence, Massachusetts, who filed a joint complain, have sued the administration over the EO. In their complaint, San Francisco sought declaratory and injunctive relief against the United States of America and certain federal officials for violating the 10a' Amendment (Anti -Commandeering Principle) and further sought a declaration that the City and County of San Francisco comply with 8 U.S.C. Section 1373. DACA The President recently indicated that he intends to issue his administration's policy on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in the next few weeks. Separately, the sanctuary city EO may implicitly rescind the Obama Administration's November 14, 2014 immigration executive action, which created the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DADA) program and expanded the 2012 DACA program. The action was never codified into law. This EO comes soon after a federal judge overseeing a challenge to President Obama's unilateral immigration reforms put the case on hold for two months while President Trump decides what to do with the policies. The original lawsuit was filed by 26 states, arguing that President Obama violated the U.S. Constitution's separation of powers by acting without congressional approval. If DAPA and DACA, are struck down, Congress would have to act to reverse this change in policy and seek to codify President Obama's executive action to protect people brought to the U.S. as children. Since Republicans hold a majority in both chambers, passing a bipartisan DACA bill will be difficult, especially in the House. Some Republicans in the Senate, namely those who cosponsored the Bridge Act—including Sens. Murkowski (R -AIC), Flake (R -AZ) and Graham (R-SC)—which would provide temporary relief from deportation and employment authorization to individuals who are eligible for DACA. FY 2017 & FY 2018 Budgets/Appropriations Budgets To overcome the filibuster, Republicans will use procedural tools that only require a simple majority (50 votes) to pass controversial legislation. One such tool is the budget reconciliation process. This year, Republicans will use two budget reconciliations (resolutions) to accomplish two major priorities: ACA repeal and replace (FY 2017) and tax reform (FY 2018). The first budget resolution to repeal the ACA was passed by the Senate on January 12 and the House on January 13, and does not require the president's signature. The President recently noted that a GOP replacement plan could take a year. The FY 2017 resolution is currently being reconciled. The FY 2017 budget resolution includes reconciliation instructions to four authorizing committees—Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce in the House and Finance and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions in the Senate—to allow immediate action on repeal of the ACA once reconciled. Once the committees finish drafting their changes, they will be sent to the budget committees, which merge the language into a single bill. Then the House and Senate will act on the bills produced by their budget committees. In the House, this is likely an up -or -down vote on the product whereas in the Senate any amendments meeting the budget -related requirement could be offered. Finally, the House and Senate would need to resolve differences in 5 1 Msll5