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Below is a snapshot of some of the recent legislation Congressman Graves has been working on in the US House of Representatives. If you have questions or comments regarding these or other legislative issues, contact our office today.

Last Week Revisited – On the Floor

On Wednesday, the House passed 21st Century Cures, by a vote of 392-26. The bill encompasses $4.8 billion in new, fully offset funding for the NIH to aid in cures development, including funding for "Cancer Moonshot" and the BRAIN Initiative. It encourages personalized medicine to find best treatments, incentivizes the development of drugs for pediatric diseases, removes barriers for research collaboration, puts patients at the heart of the regulatory review process, and improves and strengthens the Medicare program to increase access for seniors to quality, affordable health care. This package of legislation also encompasses sweeping mental health reforms to strengthen the nation's mental health workforce, improve mental health care for children or adults with serious mental illness, and establishes the National Mental Health and Substance Use Poly Lab to drive evidence-based grant making.

On Thursday, the House passed H.R. 6392, the Systemic Risk Designation Improvement Act of 2016, by a vote of 254-161. This legislation requires the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) to use an indicator-based measurement approach to determine the risk a bank holding company could pose to U.S. financial stability before designating such institutions as systemically important financial institutions (SIFIs) and consequently subjecting them to enhanced supervision and prudential standards by the Federal Reserve. Under the indicator-based approach, a bank holding company will be measured on five operational indicators: size, interconnectedness, complexity, cross-jurisdictional activity, and available substitutes. Under current law, bank holding companies with $50 billion or more in total consolidated assets are automatically designated as SIFIs.

On Friday, the House passed the Conference Report to Accompany S. 2943, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017, by a vote of 375-34. This legislation supports $619 billion for national defense, enhances military readiness, provides our troops with the largest pay raise in six years, strengthens military health care, and institutes other organizational reforms to increase accountability, oversight, integration, and strategic thinking within the Department of Defense.

Suspension of the Rules:
1) H.R. 5458 - Veterans TRICARE Choice Act of 2016 (Sponsored by Rep. Chris Stewart / Ways and Means Committee)

2) H.R. 6135 - To designate the Federal building and United States courthouse located at 719 Church Street in Nashville, Tennessee, as the "Fred D. Thompson Federal Building and United States Courthouse" (Sponsored by Rep. Marsha Blackburn / Transportation and Infrastructure Committee)

3) House Amendment to S. 546 - RESPONSE Act of 2016 (Sponsored by Sen. Heidi Heitkamp / Transportation and Infrastructure Committee)

4) House Amendment to S. 2577 - Justice for All Reauthorization Act of 2016 (Sponsored by Sen. John Cornyn / Judiciary Committee)

5) H.R. 5422 - To ensure funding for the National Human Trafficking Hotline, and for other purposes. (Sponsored by Rep. Ted Poe / Judiciary Committee)

6) H.R. 5877 - United States-Israel Advanced Research Partnership Act of 2016, as amended (Sponsored by Rep. John Ratcliffe / Homeland Security Committee)

7) H.R. 5843 - United States-Israel Cybersecurity Cooperation Enhancement Act of 2016, as amended (Sponsored by Rep. Jim Langevin / Homeland Security Committee)

8) H.R. 4757 - To amend title 38, United States Code, to expand the eligibility for headstones, markers, and medallions furnished by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs for deceased individuals who were awarded the Medal of Honor and are buried in private cemeteries, as amended (Sponsored by Rep. Jeff Miller / Veterans Affairs Committee)

9) H.R. 5399 - Ethical Patient Care for Veterans Act of 2016 (Sponsored by Rep. Phil Roe / Veterans Affairs Committee)

10) H.R. 5047 - Protecting Veterans’ Educational Choice Act of 2016 (Sponsored by Rep. Jody Hice / Veterans Affairs Committee)

11) H.R. 5166 - WINGMAN Act, as amended (Sponsored by Rep. Ted Yoho / Veterans Affairs Committee)

12) H.R. 3286 - HIRE Vets Act, as amended (Sponsored by Rep. Paul Cook / Veterans Affairs Committee)

13) H.R. 5600 - No Hero Left Untreated Act, as amended (Sponsored by Rep. Steve Knight / Veterans Affairs Committee)

14) H.R. 6323 - To name the Department of Veterans Affairs health care system in Long Beach, California, the "Tibor Rubin VA Medical Center" (Sponsored by Rep. Alan Lowenthal / Veterans Affairs Committee)

15) H.Con.Res. 165 - Expressing the sense of Congress and reaffirming longstanding United States policy in support of a direct bilaterally negotiated settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and opposition to United Nations Security Council resolutions imposing a solution to the conflict (Sponsored by Rep. Ed Royce / Foreign Affairs Committee)

16) H.Con.Res. 40 - Encouraging reunions of divided Korean American families (Sponsored by Rep. Charles Rangel / Foreign Affairs Committee)

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2016
The House will meet at 10:00 a.m. for morning hour
Legislative Business will begin at 12:00 p.m.

H. Res. 934 - The Rule providing for consideration of H.R. 34 to authorize and strengthen the tsunami detection, forecast, warning, research, and mitigation program of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and for other purposes and for the bill H.R. 6392 to amend the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act to specify when bank holding companies may be subject to certain enhanced supervision, and for other purposes

Suspension of the Rules (13 bills):
1) H.R. 6302 - Overtime Pay for Secret Service Agents Act of 2016 (Sponsored by Rep. Jason Chaffetz / Oversight and Government Reform Committee)

2) H.R. 6303 - To designate facilities of the United States Postal Service, to establish new ZIP Codes, and for other purposes (Sponsored by Rep. Jason Chaffetz / Oversight and Government Reform Committee)

3) H.R. 5384 - Federal Register Printing Savings Act of 2016 (Sponsored by Rep. Steve Russell / Oversight and Government Reform Committee)

4) H.R. 6009 - Federal Agency Mail Management Act of 2016 (Sponsored by Rep. Steve Russell / Oversight and Government Reform Committee)

5) H.R. 6186 - Follow the Rules Act (Sponsored by Rep. Sean Duffy / Oversight and Government Reform Committee)

6) H.R. 6304 - To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 501 North Main Street in Florence, Arizona, as the "Adolfo 'Harpo' Celaya Post Office" (Sponsored by Rep. Paul Gosar / Oversight and Government Reform Committee)

7) H.R. 5948 - To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 830 Kuhn Drive in Chula Vista, California, as the "Jonathan 'J.D.' De Guzman Post Office Building" (Sponsored by Rep. Susan Davis / Oversight and Government Reform Committee)

8) H.R. 6138 - To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 560 East Pleasant Valley Road, Port Hueneme, California, as the U.S. Naval Construction Battalion "Seabees" Fallen Heroes Post Office Building (Sponsored by Rep. Julia Brownley / Oversight and Government Reform Committee)

9) H.R. 6282 - To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 2024 Jerome Avenue, in Bronx, New York, as the "Dr. Roscoe C. Brown, Jr. Post Office Building" (Sponsored by Rep. José Serrano / Oversight and Government Reform Committee)

10) H.R. 2992 - Merchant Marine of World War II Congressional Gold Medal Act (Sponsored by Rep. Susan Brooks / Financial Services Committee)

11) S. 1555 - Filipino Veterans of World War II Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2015 (Sponsored by Sen. Mazie K. Hirono / Financial Services Committee)

12) S. 2234 - Office of Strategic Services Congressional Gold Medal Act (Sponsored by Sen. Roy Blunt / Financial Services Committee)

13) H.R. 6393 - Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (Sponsored by Rep. Devin Nunes / Intelligence Committee)

THURSDAY DECEMBER 1, 2016
The House will meet at 10:00 a.m. for Morning Hour
Legislative Business will begin at 12:00 p.m.

H.Res. 937 - Providing for consideration of the conference report to accompany the bill (S. 2943) to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2017 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes (Sponsored by Rep. Bradley Byrne / Rules Committee)

H.R. 6392 - Systemic Risk Designation Improvement Act of 2016 (Sponsored by Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer / Financial Services Committee)

H.Res. 933 - Providing amounts for further expenses of the Committee on Energy and Commerce in the One Hundred Fourteenth Congress (Sponsored by Rep. Candice Miller / House Administration Committee)

FRIDAY DECEMBER 2, 2016
The House will meet at 9:00 a.m. for Legislative Business

Conference Report to Accompany S. 2943 - National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (Sponsored by Sen. John McCain / Armed Services Committee)

This Week At a Glance

This week, the House will consider H.R. 5143, the Transparent Insurance Standards Act of 2016, sponsored by Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO). The House will also consider the Water Resources Development Act of 2016. The House will also consider the Continuing Resolution for FY 2017 Appropriations, which will include additional recovery resourcesources for Louisiana flood victims (stay tuned for more information).