The Weekly Hill Update

By Adam Higgins on February 27, 2023 Posted in The Weekly Hill Update

Below is this week’s congressional update by BakerHostetler’s Federal Policy team. We’ll continue to post in weeks when both chambers of Congress are in session.

HEADLINES

The congressional committee schedule is highlighted by foreign affairs, as Congress returns from recess following the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
President Joe Biden will meet with the Democratic caucuses in both chambers.
Later in the week, Biden will host German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the White House for the first time since just before the Russian invasion.

Crypto Exchange Kraken Settles SEC Action and Agrees to Pay $30M Fine and Shutter U.S. Crypto Staking Service

By Teresa Goody Guillén, Veronica Reynolds, Michelle Tanney and J'Naia Boyd on February 16, 2023 Posted in Blockchain

According to the SEC’s complaint, Kraken offered and sold its staking[1] services to the general public in which participants could transfer crypto assets to Kraken in exchange for “advertised annual investment returns of as much as 21%” (the Kraken Staking Program). The SEC alleges that this Kraken Staking Program enabled Kraken to achieve a competitive advantage in the staking marketplace because Kraken pooled various participants’ crypto assets and staked them on behalf of the participants, thus earning higher returns than if the participants staked the same crypto assets on their own. By pooling and controlling the tokens, Kraken is alleged to have reduced its transaction costs and risks and, in the case of tokens actually staked by Kraken, increased the likelihood that Kraken itself would be selected to validate blockchain transactions, for which they would earn rewards. Accordingly, the SEC’s complaint alleges that investors lost control of the staked tokens and were provided “very little protection” in exchange for the outsized returns.

Read the full alert here.

New Congressional Subcommittees Foreshadow Pending Digital Asset Legislation

By Kevin Edgar, Teresa Goody Guillén, Michelle Tanney and Veronica Reynolds on February 13, 2023 Posted in Alert

Two congressional committees of the U.S. House of Representatives commenced the new year by announcing the creation of new subcommittees for the 118th Congress that are expected to analyze issues concerning cryptocurrency and digital assets. The creation of these subcommittees signals the potential for legislative action in the wake of jurisdictional uncertainty regarding federal agency regulation and enforcement of these assets.

Real full alert.

The Weekly Hill Update

By Adam Higgins on February 6, 2023 Posted in The Weekly Hill Update

Below is this week’s congressional update by BakerHostetler’s Federal Policy team. We’ll continue to post in weeks when both chambers of Congress are in session.

HEADLINES

President Joe Biden on Tuesday will fulfill his constitutional obligation to “give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.”
Washington is in a furor over China sending a surveillance balloon over the United States and the White House’s handling of the incursion and the decision to shoot it down.
Following his State of the Union address, Biden and his cabinet will fan out across the country, including presidential visits to Wisconsin and Florida, to promote his economic agenda.

The Weekly Hill Update

By Adam Higgins on January 30, 2023 Posted in The Weekly Hill Update

Below is this week’s congressional update by BakerHostetler’s Federal Policy team. We’ll continue to post in weeks when both chambers of Congress are in session.

HEADLINES

President Joe Biden on Wednesday will meet with Speaker Kevin McCarthy, their first face-to-face meeting in an already-contentious showdown over raising the debt limit.
The 118th Congress continues its slow start, with committees in both chambers finally holding organizational meetings as the calendar turns to February.
Biden is traveling the East Coast this week to tout progress on his domestic agenda.

The Weekly Hill Update

By Adam Higgins on January 23, 2023 Posted in The Weekly Hill Update

HEADLINES

Below is this week’s congressional update by BakerHostetler’s Federal Policy team. We’ll continue to post in weeks when both chambers of Congress are in session.

The 118th Congress is up and running for the first full week that both chambers are in session.
The House will take up legislation that would prohibit the Secretary of Energy from tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for nonemergency reasons until establishing a plan to increase oil and gas production on federal lands and waters.
President Joe Biden will host a reception for new members of Congress, as well as a reception to celebrate the Lunar New Year.

Overview of the Inflation Reduction Act’s Methane Tax

By Poe Leggette and Bailey A. Bridges on January 13, 2023 Posted in Energy

Part I of this three-part methane update discussed the state of substantive methane regulation in the United States and touched on the Inflation Reduction Act’s (“IRA” or “the Act”) addition of Section 136 to the Clean Air Act. This Part II covers Section 136’s first-ever federal “charge on methane emissions[.]” Part III will cover currently proposed changes to the substantive regulation of methane emissions.

Read the alert.

The Weekly Hill Update

By Adam Higgins on January 3, 2023 Posted in The Weekly Hill Update

Below is a condensed congressional update by BakerHostetler’s Federal Policy team, as the 118^th Congress begins. We’ll continue to post in weeks when both chambers of Congress are in session.

HEADLINES

The House will convene at noon, with all eyes on Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., whose bid to be speaker is in serious jeopardy with several Republicans refusing to support him. No one in Washington knows how this will end.
The Senate will convene and tend to procedural matters, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., becoming the longest-serving party leader in Senate history, while majority Democrats plan to name Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., president pro tem.
President Joe Biden will hold a cabinet meeting, then Friday will host a White House event commemorating the second anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.

The Weekly Hill Update

By Adam Higgins on December 19, 2022 Posted in The Weekly Hill Update

Below is a condensed congressional update by BakerHostetler’s Federal Policy team, as Congress wraps up its work for the year in an abbreviated week. We’ll continue to post in weeks when both chambers of Congress are in session.

HEADLINES

Congressional negotiators are working toward finalizing an omnibus spending bill, with final passage expected Friday.
The House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the Capitol will hold its final hearing today, releasing its findings and reportedly planning to an unprecedented criminal referral urging the Justice Department to pursue charges against Donald Trump.
Tomorrow the House Ways and Means Committee will hold a hearing on reviewing Trump’s tax returns, recently obtained after a long legal battle.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden will host a Hanukkah reception this evening; they also plan to celebrate Christmas at the White House.

2023 BakerHostetler Congressional Calendar

By Chris Jones on December 14, 2022 Posted in Congress

Congressional leaders finalized the 2023 legislative calendar, and once again we’re pleased to share with you the 2023 BakerHostetler Congressional Calendar. Click here to download your ready-to-print, one-page combination House and Senate calendar for 2023. Suitable for hanging on your wall all year long!