Truckload Authority - Winter 2014/15

CapItol recap
A review of important legislative and regulatory news coming out of our nation’s capital.
Sea of red
A s many pundits have opined, Republicans’
sweep in the mid-term elections proved to be more
about dissatisfaction with President Barack Obama
than disgust with Democratic incumbents.
One could practically hear the balance of power
swing from one side to the other.
Indeed, after the elections the U.S. Senate went
from being Democrat-led to 46 Democrats and 53
Republicans, with one runoff to decide the other seat.
The House now has 244 Republicans compared
with 188 Democrats.
In gubernatorial races, Republicans took 24 wins,
the Democrats only 10.
Political party maps turned into a sea of red.
And there were some history-making political
about-faces.
In Arkansas, for example, the election outcome
marked the first time since Reconstruction that two
Republicans have represented the Natural State.
West Virginia, which historically has been Democratic,
also embraced the GOP, while in Kentucky,
Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell handily won re-election.
In Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker defeated Mary
Murke and in Michigan Rick Snyder garnered a
decisive win.
In Illinois, venture capitalist Bruce Rauner defeated
Pat Quinn with an anti-labor campaign while
Louisiana’s Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu clawed
tooth and nail to hold onto her seat, but as of press
time she didn’t have nearly enough votes to win in the
runoff against her opponent, GOP Rep. Bill Cassidy. In
fact, a last-ditch vote on the Keystone Pipeline in the
Senate November 18 tallied 59-41, one vote short of
the 60 it needed to pass. Landrieu had championed
the Keystone issue in hopes of riding to victory on
its coattails, but it didn’t happen. The administration
is reported to have quietly signaled that President
Obama would likely veto the measure if it is adopted in
the new congress next year.
Executive
Immigration
Plan
Not long after the elections, President Obama
November 20 in a televised speech announced his
plan to pardon some 5 million illegal immigrants from
deportation, marking what The Associated Press called
“the most sweeping changes to the nation’s fractured
immigration laws in nearly three decades … .”
Rep. Darrell Issa, a Republican from California and
chair of the Committee on Oversight and Government
Reform, immediately brought up a recent Justice Department
report he said shows Obama didn’t have the
legal authority to take such unilateral executive action.
Less than a month later Texas led a 17-state
coalition that filed suit December 3 over Obama’s
immigration plan, arguing that the move “tramples” key
portions of the U.S. Constitution.
Many top Republicans had roundly denounced
Obama’s order, but Texas Gov.-elect and current Attorney
General Greg Abbott took it a step further, filing a
formal legal challenge in federal court in the Southern
District of Texas.
The suit doesn’t seek monetary damages, but
instead want the courts to block Obama’s action.
The coalition of states are Alabama, Georgia,
Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Montana, Maine,
Mississippi, Nebraska, South Carolina, North Carolina,
South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and
Wisconsin. All but Nebraska and West Virginia have
Republican governors and Republican-controlled
legislatures.
Republican Govs. Phil Bryant (Mississippi), Paul
LePage (Maine), Patrick McCrory (North Carolina)
and Butch Otter (Idaho) signed on to the challenge
individually, which was filed in a Texas federal court
district.
The lawsuit raises two major objections: that
Obama violated the “Take Care Clause” of the U.S.
Constitution — which Abbott said limits the scope of
presidential power — and that the order will “exacerbate
the humanitarian crisis along the southern
border, which will affect increased state investment in
law enforcement, health care and education.”
Abbott said it’s up to the president to “execute the
law, not de facto make law.”
White House spokeswoman Brandi Hoffine
repeated the administration’s response that the president
is not out of legal bounds. “The Supreme Court
and Congress have made clear that federal officials
can set priorities in enforcing our immigration laws,”
she said.
The main beneficiaries of the president’s immigration
plan are immigrants who have been in the U.S. illegally
for more than five years but whose children are citizens
or lawful permanent residents. After passing background
checks and paying fees, they will be granted relief from
deportation for three years and get work permits. The
administration expects 4-5 million people to qualify.
Obama also broadened his 2012 directive that
deferred deportation for some young immigrants who
entered the country illegally. He will expand eligibility to
people who arrived in the U.S. as minors before 2010
instead of the current cutoff of 2007.
Business groups were less than enthused about the
plan, saying it doesn’t do enough to improve the position
of U.S. businesses on a global scale.
The American Trucking Associations said those
covered by the plan would be welcomed “with open
arms” if they met training, licensing, qualification and
safety standards.
Obama’s plan makes illegal immigrants eligible
for programs such as Medicare and Social Security if
they work and submit payroll taxes that flow to those
programs, according to The Washington Post.
Obamacare still
problematic
Obamacare is still struggling to make it out of
the woods.
Daniel Levinson, the head watchdog of the
Department of Health and Human Services, said
December 2 that his office still has some 40 investigations
related to Obamacare, but more importantly the
Supreme Court has agreed to hear next spring arguments
that challenge the legality of subsidies offered
to help millions of low- and middle-income people buy
health insurance.
A federal appeals court upheld Internal Revenue
Service regulations that allow health-insurance tax
credits under Obamacare for consumers in all 50
states.
But opponents of the subsidies say the Supreme
Court should resolve the issue now because it involves
billions of dollars in public money.
“The plain language of the law makes it clear that
subsidies are only to be provided for the purchase
of health exchanges set up by the states,” Rep. Tom
Price, R-Ga., said recently. “Nevertheless, the Obama
administration and others are asking the courts to
disregard the letter of the law and instead rule based
on bureaucratic rewrites and revisions.”
Meanwhile, the administration has just until
February 15 to bring millions of new customers into
the system and encourage existing enrollees to come
back and shop again.
The three-month window — about half as long
as last year — is proceeding while the back-end of
HealthCare.gov remains partly unfinished. Health
insurers have been exasperated by the delays, as
health officials continue to verify some account and
application details by hand, The Hill reported.
Enrollment for small businesses under Obamacare
is falling short of the government’s expectations, according
to a federal audit announced this fall.
About 76,000 people have enrolled in the state-run
exchanges, a dismal total that nearly guarantees that
the Obama administration will miss its target for small
businesses, according to a report by the nonpartisan
General Accountability Office (GAO).
Keystone DOA for Now
The U.S. House of Representatives last month
passed legislation to authorize construction of the
Keystone XL pipeline, setting the stage for a show-
14 Truckload Authority | www.Truckload.org TCA 2014-15