December 2, 2016

Telephone Community Meetings

Thanks to everyone who joined me Wednesday night for the telephone community meeting. I am hosting another one on Wednesday December 7th from 7:00-8:00 PM. If you’d like to join us just dial 877-229-8493 and use PIN 116139 at the scheduled time. To ask me a question, press *3 after joining the meeting. We’ll post audio files of both meetings on my website at capuano.house.gov when they are available.

Health Care

On Wednesday the House considered a Motion to Concur in the Senate Amendment with an Amendment to H.R. 34, the 21st Century Cures Act. This legislation authorizes more than $6 billion over ten years for a number of key health initiatives. This includes funding for Vice President Biden’s Cancer Moonshot Initiative and President Obama’s Precision Medicine Initiative. More than $1 billion is available over two years to help states and municipalities address the opioid epidemic. Funding can also be used for mental health care, substance abuse programs, research programs and much more. The legislation modernizes regulations related to medical research which will make it easier to research and develop new drugs. This will help accelerate the approval process so patients have quicker access to potentially lifesaving drugs and treatments. While I do have some concerns about this legislation, the health and medical research advancements that this legislation makes possible are significant. I voted YES. The legislation passed and the entire vote is recorded below:

Financial Regulation

On Thursday the House considered H.R. 6392, the Systemic Risk Designation Improvement Act of 2016. This legislation is another attempt to weaken the Dodd Frank Financial Regulatory Reform Act. Under Dodd Frank any financial institution with more than $50 billion in assets must be designated a Systemically Important Financial Institution (SIFI) which gives the Federal Reserve more authority to review them for stability. H.R. 6392 repeals that provision, replacing it with a requirement that the SIFI designation only apply to the largest financial institutions. This limits enhanced oversight to only a handful of individual banks. Reducing oversight of banks with assets over $50 billion could increase the risk to the economy. I voted NO. H.R. 6392 passed and the entire vote is recorded below:

Defense Authorization

Today the House considered the Conference Report on S. 2943 the Fiscal Year 2017 Defense Authorization Act. The Conference Report authorizes more than $600 billion for the Department of Defense. While it does provide a cost of living adjustment for our troops and updates the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the legislation contains more money than the Administration requested. This comes at the expense of many other important programs which will in turn be funded below requested levels. I voted NO. The Conference Report passed and the entire vote is recorded below:

What’s Up Next

The next House votes will take place on Monday December 5th. The House is expected to consider legislation to fund the federal government beyond December 9th.