Legislative Update From CUNA (Special Edition)
The House and Senate (12/12/2012 - Special Edition)
Senate: S. 3637, Extension of the Transaction Account Guarantee Program (TAG)
The Senate will convene at 9:30 AM and proceed to a period of morning business until 2:00 PM. The period between 11:30 and 2:00 PM is reserved for tributes to retiring members of the Senate. At 2:00 PM, the Senate will resume consideration of the TAG bill. At some point this afternoon, we expect a Republican Senator, probably Senator Toomey (R-PA) to make a budget point of order against the TAG bill. This will set up a critical vote on a motion to waive the point of order. This vote is being closely watched on Capitol Hill as the first true test of support for the TAG bill, and it represents the first of two opportunities we will have to bring the bill down.
The motion to waive the point of order has a 60 vote threshold. Supporters of the legislation will be seeking an AYE vote on the motion to waive the point of order; opponents of the legislation will be seeking a NO vote on the motion. If this motion fails to achieve 60 votes, the TAG bill will be ruled out of order and the Senate will move to other business. If the motion achieves 60 votes, the Senate will continue to debate the TAG bill until tomorrow morning when they will take a vote on cloture motion on the bill.
Our action alert in opposition to this legislation is still active in the Grassroots Action Center. We encourage everyone to take action in opposition to the TAG legislation.
As more details emerge regarding the timing of this vote, we will let you know.
House: H.R. 5817, Eliminate Privacy Notification Confusion Act
The House will convene at 10:00 and proceed to a period of morning business until Noon. The House will then consider a resolution permitting the House to consider bills under suspension of the rules on Thursdays and Fridays for the remainder of the 112th Congress as well as five bills under suspension of the rules. The second bill that will be considered under suspension is H.R. 5817.
CUNA strongly supports H.R. 5817, which has been introduced in the House by Representatives Blaine Leutkemeyer (R-MO) and Brad Sherman (D-CA). The legislation would eliminate the requirement the credit unions send privacy notifications to their members on an annual basis if they have not changed their privacy policy. We anticipate a small number of Members will seek time to speak in opposition to the legislation, including Representatives Ed Markey (D-MA), Joe Barton (R-TX), and Henry Waxman (D-CA). These members were the authors of the current privacy notification language in the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.
As you may have noticed, this is the second time this legislation has been on the floor; it was also considered last week. During the debate last week, several Members expressed concern over language in the bill that was not in the version of this legislation passed by the 111th Congress. Working with Chairman Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), the sponsors of the legislation agreed to modify the bill to address these concerns. CUNA supports the revised legislation.
The vote on this bill is subject to a 2/3 vote of the House. At this time, we do not expect there being a problem achieving that threshold because the legislation passed the House by voice vote in the 111th Congress. As the House makes its way through this bill today, we will keep you updated.
Ryan Donovan
Senior Vice President, Legislative Affairs
The Senate will convene at 9:30 AM and proceed to a period of morning business until 2:00 PM. The period between 11:30 and 2:00 PM is reserved for tributes to retiring members of the Senate. At 2:00 PM, the Senate will resume consideration of the TAG bill. At some point this afternoon, we expect a Republican Senator, probably Senator Toomey (R-PA) to make a budget point of order against the TAG bill. This will set up a critical vote on a motion to waive the point of order. This vote is being closely watched on Capitol Hill as the first true test of support for the TAG bill, and it represents the first of two opportunities we will have to bring the bill down.
The motion to waive the point of order has a 60 vote threshold. Supporters of the legislation will be seeking an AYE vote on the motion to waive the point of order; opponents of the legislation will be seeking a NO vote on the motion. If this motion fails to achieve 60 votes, the TAG bill will be ruled out of order and the Senate will move to other business. If the motion achieves 60 votes, the Senate will continue to debate the TAG bill until tomorrow morning when they will take a vote on cloture motion on the bill.
Our action alert in opposition to this legislation is still active in the Grassroots Action Center. We encourage everyone to take action in opposition to the TAG legislation.
As more details emerge regarding the timing of this vote, we will let you know.
House: H.R. 5817, Eliminate Privacy Notification Confusion Act
The House will convene at 10:00 and proceed to a period of morning business until Noon. The House will then consider a resolution permitting the House to consider bills under suspension of the rules on Thursdays and Fridays for the remainder of the 112th Congress as well as five bills under suspension of the rules. The second bill that will be considered under suspension is H.R. 5817.
CUNA strongly supports H.R. 5817, which has been introduced in the House by Representatives Blaine Leutkemeyer (R-MO) and Brad Sherman (D-CA). The legislation would eliminate the requirement the credit unions send privacy notifications to their members on an annual basis if they have not changed their privacy policy. We anticipate a small number of Members will seek time to speak in opposition to the legislation, including Representatives Ed Markey (D-MA), Joe Barton (R-TX), and Henry Waxman (D-CA). These members were the authors of the current privacy notification language in the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.
As you may have noticed, this is the second time this legislation has been on the floor; it was also considered last week. During the debate last week, several Members expressed concern over language in the bill that was not in the version of this legislation passed by the 111th Congress. Working with Chairman Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), the sponsors of the legislation agreed to modify the bill to address these concerns. CUNA supports the revised legislation.
The vote on this bill is subject to a 2/3 vote of the House. At this time, we do not expect there being a problem achieving that threshold because the legislation passed the House by voice vote in the 111th Congress. As the House makes its way through this bill today, we will keep you updated.
Ryan Donovan
Senior Vice President, Legislative Affairs
