Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016
Latest action. motion to tableA motion to set something aside permanently. It is not debatable and needs only a simple majority, so it is the fastest way to kill an amendment without voting on it directly.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) the motion by Senator McConnell to commit to Senate Committee on the Judiciary with instructions to report back forthwith with amendment SA 4858 rejected in Senate by Yea-Nay Vote. 46 - 52. Record Vote Number: 109. (consideration: continuing resolutionA stopgap law funding the government at existing levels when the annual appropriations bills are not done by October 1.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) S4534-4535)
Highlights:
The Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016 provides FY2016 appropriations to the Department of Commerce, the Department of Justice (DOJ), science agencies, and several related agencies.
The bill funds agencies with a wide range of responsibilities for issues such as: addressing violent crime, drug trafficking, financial fraud, terrorism, espionage, and cybercrime; conducting the census; forecasting the weather; managing fisheries; exploring space; advancing science; providing legal services for the poor; enforcing employment discrimination laws; and overseeing patents, trademarks, and trade policy.
The bill increases overall FY2016 Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies funding above FY2015 levels, including increases for the Department of Commerce, DOJ, science programs, and Related Agencies.
Within the Department of Commerce budget, the bill includes:
increases for the Bureau of Industry and Security, the Bureau of the Census, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology; and
decreases for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Departmental Management.
Within the DOJ budget, the bill includes:
increases for Legal Activities, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Federal Prison System, and Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS); and
decreases for the Office on Violence Against Women and Office of Justice Programs, including State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance.
For science programs, the bill increases funding for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and funds the National Science Foundation and the Office of Science and Technology Policy at or slightly below FY2015 levels.
The bill includes increases for the Legal Services Corporation and the Marine Mammal Commission, while funding the other related agencies included in the bill at the FY2015 level.
The bill includes provisions that restrict or prohibit the use of funds for:
the transfer of Guantanamo detainees or the construction of a new facility in the United States to house them;
the enforcement of certain restrictions on firearms; and
preventing states from implementing their own laws legalizing medical marijuana.
Full Summary:
The summary continues for 145 more paragraphs. Read it in full on Congress.gov
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Reported to Senate with amendment(s)" stage on June 16, 2015. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
This bill failed the vote the record describes below. A measure that fails is not revived; the same text has to be introduced again as a new measure.
The record's latest action, on June 23, 2016: Motion to table the motion by Senator McConnell to commit to Senate Committee on the Judiciary with instructions to report back forthwith with amendment SA 4858 rejected in Senate by Yea-Nay Vote. 46 - 52. Record Vote Number: 109. (consideration: CR S4534-4535)
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
JOHN CULBERSON (R-TX) introduced it on May 27, 2015. No cosponsors are recorded.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseDid not advance · June 23, 2016
- SenateNot reached
- PresidentNot reached