U.S. REP. ROBY TO JOIN POWERFUL HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE NEXT MONTH    

U.S. Rep. Martha Roby, R-Montgomery, has been picked to fill one of three GOP vacancies on the powerful House Appropriations Committee, a plum assignment for the second-term congresswoman, al.com reported. "I am being encouraged by my colleagues to accept an assignment on (the) House Appropriations Committee," Roby said. "This is so important to the Second District because this is the committee that holds the purse strings and controls federal spending, including funding for all military programs."

She would join U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Haleyville, on the money committee. The political challenge would be to force a return to annual government budgeting instead of the funding the government by "continuing resolutions" that serve to hide executive spending preferences.

Alabama and 16 other states claim President Obama violated the U.S. Constitution when he appointed three members to the National Labor Relations Board without approval from the Senate, al.com reported. According to a release from Attorney General Luther Strange's office, Obama appointed three new NLRB members in 2011 under a provision that allows appointments without Senate approval during a Senate recess, al.com said. Strange and the states argue that the Senate was not in recess.

The lawsuit in federal court is styled Noel Canning vs. the National Labor Relations Board, and the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear it. Noel Canning is a Washington state soft drink bottling company that appealed an NLRB ruling and claimed that three of the five NLRB members were not legally appointed. The NLRB conducts elections for labor union representation and investigates and rules on unfair labor practices.

Al.com said, according to the U.S. Supreme Court blog, the case raises the question of whether the president's recess-appointment power can be exercised during a recess within a session of the Senate or only during recesses between sessions. Another question is whether the recess appointment power can be used to fill vacancies that exist during a recess or can only be used for vacancies that first arose during that recess, al.com said.

Sessions, Shelby, 10 other senators sign letter to Commerce Department on the proposed rules on steel from China 

In a letter sent to Commerce Secretary Penny S. Pritzker, U.S. Sens. Jeff Sessions and Richard Shelby, along with 10 other senators asked her to ensure fair trade for Alabama, U.S. steel workers.

Sessions' office (11/25) "We are writing to follow up on an issue that continues to be of vital importance to our constituents - namely, the need for continued strong enforcement of the existing antidumping ('AD') and countervailing duty ('CVD') orders on oil country tubular goods ('OCTG') from China. The orders have provided much needed relief to our industry and workers, who were subjected to massive injury from the influx of dumped and subsidized OCTG from China in 2008 and 2009.

"We understand that within a few weeks the Department of Commerce intends to issue the final results of a scope inquiry to determine whether minor finishing (such as heat treating) of OCTG from China in third countries is enough to change its 'country of origin' for purposes of the AD/CVD orders and to exempt it from trade relief. As it prepares its final results, we urge the Department to keep in mind the critical importance of this issue for our workers and the U.S. industry as a whole.

"As you know, these orders have been vitally important to the U.S. industry and American steel workers. After being devastated by a massive wave of dumped and subsidized Chinese imports that negatively impacted this market in a matter of months, the U.S. industry is now in a fragile recovery. Opening a new path to circumvention of the orders would severely threaten that recovery and the relief from unfair trade that our companies and workers fought so hard to achieve. Accordingly, we urge you to make sure that the Department is interpreting these orders as intended and as needed to ensure that they are effective."

U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear Obamacare employer contraceptive coverage mandate 

Politico (Haberkorn 11/26) "The Supreme Court has agreed to revisit Obamacare, this time to review the requirement that most employers provide contraceptive coverage in their employee health insurance plans. On Tuesday, the court accepted two cases centered on the issue of business owners' religious expression. It's another test for the embattled health care law, which is already struggling under the weight of a botched website and a political backlash after millions of Americans saw their current insurance plans cancelled for 2014.

"The case could also rekindle the same clash that unfolded during the 2012 presidential campaign, when Republicans attempted to make the contraception rule an important issue. A ruling against the contraception coverage rule wouldn't knock down the whole health law, but it would give more fuel to its opponents. This is not Obamacare's first trip to the high court. In 2012, the court ruled in favor of another controversial piece of the law - the individual mandate, which requires most Americans to have health insurance. The court also ruled at the time that states could opt-out of the Medicaid expansion designed to cover low-income Americans.

"The Affordable Care Act requires most large employers to provide health insurance that includes coverage of certain treatments and medicines, including several forms of contraceptives. Under pressure on the contraception mandate, the White House gave an exemption to certain non-profit religious organizations but not to private employers generally. The White House released a statement Tuesday calling the requirement for private companies to provide contraceptive coverage 'lawful and essential to women's health.' It pointed to what it called a 'commonsense' exception for religious institutions."