U.S. SENATOR SHELBY SAYS CONGRESS MUST TACKLE SPENDING

U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby this week said he hopes Congress returns to Washington, D.C., with a Republican majority after the November elections and begins to address the nation's spending and tremendous debt, currently $17 trillion and increasing.

Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa, is Alabama's senior senator and is the ranking Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee and on the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee. He is a tireless advocate for the state, nation, and business community.

Shelby spoke Thursday with Business Council of Alabama members via conference call prior to Senate debate and vote on a continuing resolution to authorize federal spending beyond the Sept. 30 end of the current fiscal year. The Senate passed the resolution late Thursday.

Right now Washington is stalemated legislatively because Democrats control the Senate and Republicans control the House. Shelby said the challenge to a Republican-controlled Senate and House would be to "come to grips up here with spending," spending which has required astronomical borrowing to support.

"The growth of entitlements is growing our debt," Shelby said. "We're going to be close to $20 trillion in debt. This is not chicken feed."

Shelby said there is currently "no political will to deal with entitlements," since trying to cut them is seen as political suicide. "We should try to put country first, go back to the drawing room or our children and grandchildren will suffer," he said.

Shelby said controlling spending "is no easy thing" and will require a bipartisan effort.

"I don't see it happening yet," Shelby said. "If it doesn't happen we're kicking the can down the road for our children and grandchildren."

Shelby, in his fifth term but who is not on the ballot this November, said if Republicans gain control of the U.S. Senate, he expects U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Mobile, will become chairman of the Senate Banking Committee. Sessions, the committee's ranking member, is expected to win a fourth term in November.

"We'll come back after the election toward the middle of November and I hope we come back with a Republican majority in the House and Senate," Shelby said. "In my judgment it would be good for America."

Shelby said the controversial continuing resolution contains funding to train and equip opposition to radical Islamic fundamentalists in Syria that seek to establish an Islamic state in the Middle East.

Although President Obama has asked for money to fight Islamic fundamentalists, Shelby said, "I'm not sure our president is really committed to seeing this through."

The House Joint Resolution which contains temporary extension of the Export-Import Bank until June 30 is headed to President Obama's desk for consideration after the Senate on Thursday approved the HJR on a vote of 78-22. The House passed the HJR on Wednesday by a vote of 319-108.

The HJR also extended the current fiscal year's federal spending until Dec. 11 and contained war funding against fighters seeking an Islamic state in the Middle East.

The continuing resolution temporarily reauthorizes the Export-Import Bank but long-term authority is needed next year, Business Council of Alabama President and CEO William J. Canary said. "The Ex-Im Bank provides needed financing for overseas transactions for Alabama companies that employ 4,000 people," Canary said.

The bank-support alliance that includes the BCA, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the National Association of Manufacturers, urges businesses to contact their members of Congress to continue the bank. "It is critical to manufacturers and their employees that Congress accelerates its work to put in place a long-term solution as quickly as possible," said NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons.

Lack of long-term reauthorization weakens U.S. global competitiveness and continues to put U.S.-manufactured goods exports and manufacturing growth and jobs at risk, NAM Vice President of International Economic Affairs Linda Dempsey said.

"Until a long-term reauthorization is enacted, U.S. exporters will be forced to operate under a haze of uncertainty that hurts job growth and only bolsters our foreign competitors," Dempsey said.

The NAM is co-chair of the Exporters for Ex-Im Coalition, which represents small, medium, and large Ex-Im Bank users across the country. To read more about the coalition click here, and to take action on the Ex-Im, click here.

The NAM's report "Forfeiting Opportunity," which highlights the massive size and growth of export credit activity around the world and discusses the implications if the Ex-Im Bank is not reauthorized is here.

Alabama's House congressional delegation voted for the HJR but Alabama's two U.S. senators, Richard Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa, and Jeff Sessions, R-Mobile, split their votes. Shelby voted yes and Sessions, no.

"Overall, it is a relatively clean bill that carries forward current levels for discretionary spending and avoids another government shutdown," Shelby said. "The anomalies it does contain are limited in duration and subject to relitigation when we return after the break."

Sessions said he voted no because there was no time to meaningfully review the "massive, catch-all bill" that was rushed through the process. "Incredibly, the Syria authorization has also been included in the larger funding bill instead of as a separate vote, denying members an independent opportunity to evaluate or improve that language," Sessions said. "This is not a process I can support, and therefore I voted no."

A West Virginia federal district court ruled this week that the Environmental Protection Agency failed to conduct continuing evaluations of job losses and shifts in employment from its air quality regulations as required by the Clean Air Act. Murray Energy Co. alleged in its lawsuit that the EPA has never conducted an evaluation of job displacement impacts from environmental regulations.

The EPA sought dismissal but the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia ruled that Murray Energy's lawsuit could proceed. The court said because the requirement is not a discretionary provision, the EPA cannot freely ignore the requirement to perform the "continuing evaluations."

"Under this provision, the Administrator is mandated to undertake an ongoing evaluation of job losses and employment shifts due to requirements of the act," a House committee reported in 1977.

This decision is an important development in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's long battle to get EPA to acknowledge that its regulatory programs have real impacts on job losses and employment displacements, the Chamber reported.

The Chamber has testified several times since 2012 on the need of the EPA to conduct employment studies as required by law. The court's decision is a critical next step in forcing EPA to own up to the real impacts its regulations have on industries like coal, power generation, brick makers, foundries, forest products manufacturers, and others, the Chamber said.

After Today, House Is Done Through the Elections

Roll Call (Eldridge 9/18) "It's official: The House is closing up shop until after the midterm elections. Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy's office announced Thursday there will be no votes on Friday and said the four-day session originally scheduled to begin on Sept. 29 has been canceled, pending Senate approval of the continuing resolution that passed the House Wednesday.

"That means lawmakers will be sprinting to the exits - and the quick trip to the airport - after the close of business Thursday. The CR keeping the government open past Sept. 30 is the only must-pass bill keeping Congress in town. The Senate has already set a lame-duck session for Nov. 12 - after the elections but before new officeholders are sworn-in."

Reid Sets Lame-Duck Schedule

Roll Call (Lesniewski 9/18) "The Senate has set the date for returning for the lame-duck session. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is advising senators they will return for the post-election, lame-duck session the day following Veterans Day.

"Orientation and the Democratic leadership elections for the next Congress will be held Nov. 12 through Nov. 14, according to a notice obtained by CQ Roll Call. The Senate's two top leaders made pre-election pitches in opening the chamber Tuesday morning, as the Senate looks for a quick exit ahead of the Nov. 4 midterm elections.

"Of course, who controls the Senate for the next Congress could very well still be undecided by Nov. 12, particularly given the possibility of a runoff in Louisiana. Just how much gets done during the session will depend on the outcome of the elections, but there will be a rather hefty to-do list, including processing nominations and another government funding bill."