House GOP releases February agenda
House Republicans will vote on repealing Obamacare next week, but this time the legislation will include âinstructionsâ for committees to craft an GOP alternative. In a memo sent to Republicans on Thursday, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) laid out the agenda for the entire month of February, which will also include making permanent tax breaks for charitable giving and preventing the White House from âcoercing states to adopt Common Core standards.â Story Continued Below Nowhere in the memo does it say that the House will take up the two pieces of legislation that it pulled in January: a border security bill and legislation to ban abortions after 20 weeks. Department of Homeland Security funding expires at the end of February, and McCarthy wrote that if the Senate passes a bill different from the House-passed measure â a near certainty â leadership will âbe discussing with the Conference the best way to continue to challenge the Presidentâs unconstitutional amnesty.â That debate is likely to dominate the entire month. Seizing on President Barack Obamaâs abandoned plan to tax 529 college saving accounts, the House will vote on a Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-Kan.) bill to âunequivocally oppose any plan to tax 529s, which is an outright assault on families trying to save for their childrenâs education.â Next week, the GOP will also vote on a bill that attempts to âhold agencies accountable for the true cost of federal mandatesâ by imposing âstricter requirements for how and when federal agencies must disclose the cost of federal mandates and equips both Congress and the public with tools to determine the true costs of regulations.â