Articles

Week of March 7, 2017

This Week Revisited – On the Floor

On Wednesday, the House passed H.R. 1301, the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2017, by a vote of 371-48 (See Roll Call #136). This legislation appropriates base discretionary funding for the Department of Defense for fiscal year 2017 at a level of $516.1 billion. It also allocates $61.8 billion in Oversees Contingency Operations (OCO) and Global War on Terror Funding, and $5.8 billion in OCO supplemental funding.This legislation provides for key readiness programs that prepare our troops for combat and peacetime missions, keeps our military on the cutting edge of defense technology, outfits our military force to conduct successful operations, enhances medical care and ensure full benefits for our troops, military families, and retirees, and maintains a strong, robust active and reserve force by fully funding a 2.1% pay raise for our troops.

On Thursday, the House passed H.R. 985, the Fairness in Class Action Litigation and Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency Act of 2017, by a vote of 220-201-1. (See Roll Call #148). This legislation would fix our broken class action litigation system to make it work for American businesses and consumers with legitimate claims, and promote transparency in the asbestos bankruptcy trust system, reduce fraud, and enhance the recoveries of victims.

On Thursday, the House also passed H.R. 725, the Innocent Party Protection Act, by a vote of 224-194. (See Roll Call #152). This legislation will protect innocent Americans from being pulled into lawsuits by trail lawyers for the sole purpose of rigging the system to keep their lawsuits in the state courts they like best.

On Friday, the House passed H.R. 720, the Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act of 2017, by a vote of 230-188. (See Roll Call #158). This legislation, will curb the issue of frivolous lawsuits by making it mandatory for the victims of frivolous lawsuits filed in federal court to be compensated for the harm done to them by the filers of frivolous lawsuits. It also will ensure that judges impose monetary sanctions against lawyers who file frivolous lawsuits, including attorney's fees and costs incurred by the victim of the lawsuit.

Next Week At a Glance

Next week, the House will consider H.R. 1259, the VA Accountability First Act of 2017, sponsored by Chairman Phil Roe (R-TN). The House will also consider H.R. 1367, To improve the authority of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to hire and retain physicians and other employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes, sponsored by Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH). The House will also consider H.R. 1181, the Veterans 2nd Amendment Protection Act, sponsored by Chairman Phil Roe (R-TN).