Recapping Last Week in Congress

Last week in the House was almost all about the Republican freak-out over regulations, both real and imagined. First, the BANANAS-worthy Regulations From the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act. Then, the "Farm Dust Regulation Prevention Act," which might as well have been the Unicorn Prevention Act.

The Senate's week was also about Republican freak-outs, but in the Senate, Republicans are in the minority, so a freak-out takes the form of a filibuster. And last week saw several: Caitlin Halligan's nomination for the DC Circuit bench; Richard Cordray's nomination to head the CFPB, and; the various alternatives on the payroll tax cut extension.

This Week in Congress

This could be the last week of the first session, and the House kicks its week off with... a slate full of post office, federal building and even park naming bills. Eighteen suspension bills in total are scheduled for the floor this week (not all naming bills, though), as Members scramble to get their non-controversial housekeeping done before the break. Other than the suspensions, the only business that actually appears on the schedule is consideration of a House Republican version of the payroll tax cut extension, and the conference reports on the MilCon appropriations bill and the defense authorization bill. We know, however, that there are still a number of unfinished appropriations bills, the latest temporary extensions of which are scheduled to expire at the end of the week. So we'll either see them bring another omnibus bill to wrap that up, or I suppose they could possibly tuck it into the conference report on MilCon, if they can get an agreement on that.

The Senate stares down the barrel of another couple of filibusters, starting with two on ambassadorial nominations. And one of these in particular really appears to break new ground in audacity, that being the filibuster of Mari Carmen Aponte's nomination as Ambassador to El Salvador, because as the NYT's Gail Collins puts it, Republicans "don’t like a boyfriend she lived with almost 20 years ago."

The rest of the Senate schedule is a catch-all notice that Senators should expect votes on the conference reports (defense authorization and MilCon approps), plus more votes on the payroll tax cut extension.

What that tells us is that both the House and Senate will likely combine a few of the last pending measures together, and tack a few bonus items on to any vehicle that moves, with both parties in both houses likely trying to cram as many of their preferred fixes to the various expiring measures (the Medicare "doc fix," unemployment insurance, etc.) into those bills as they think they can get away with. In addition, the Senate will need to hold its vote on a Balanced Budget Amendment (thanks to the one remaining effective provision of this summer's debt ceiling deal). Some week!

Full floor and committee schedules are below the fold.

Recapping Last Week in Congress

A typical week in the House last week, with one union-bashing bill, two regulatory panic bills, and one bill killing off federal elections assistance programs and federal funding for presidential races and party conventions. That last bit is interesting, especially in light of speculation that Herman Cain "suspended" rather than ended his presidential bid in an effort to remain eligible to collect federal matching funds. It'd be awfully ironic to see Mr. Bootstraps holding on for a federal bailout, especially in light of the fact that every Republican in the House (save one, Walter Jones of NC) voted to kill that funding off just last week.

The Senate spent Monday through Thursday evening finishing the controversial defense authorization bill (currently under veto threat over the detainee policy provisions), then quickly turned to rejecting motions to proceed to both the Democratic and Republican alternatives on the payroll tax holiday extension.

This Week in Congress

The House calendar currently lists Thursday as its target adjournment date for the first session, though it's not entirely clear that they're really going to be able to wind things up this week without some additional appropriations work that isn't specifically enumerated on the schedule at this point. As of now, there's a lot of end-of-session housekeeping. Eighteen suspension bills, and two Republican regulatory panic bills, one of which has been languishing in committee since January, and has apparently only emerged now at the very end of the session, because Republicans are so super serious about stuff. Seriously. It can reliably be said, I think, that voting for the first time on H.R. 10 in the last week of the session is a sign of some pretty scatterbrained disorganization. And if that's not enough for you, how about genuine paranoid idiocy? The second regulatory panic bill seeks to ban a non-existent EPA rule on "farm dust."

That's where your United States House of Representatives is, folks.

The Senate, as usual, does not have nearly as much detail set in stone about its schedule. So far, they've got an agreement in place for votes on four federal district court judges. There's a fifth judicial nomination pending, but Republicans are apparently still standing in the way of that one, and cloture had to be filed, on which a vote is expected on Tuesday. 

There's no clear target adjournment date yet on the Senate side, but again, it's likely there will have to be some additional appropriations work done before anyone can go home, since the last continuing appropriations bill (passed in mid-November) funded some agencies only through December 16th. And of course, the promise on the payroll tax holiday extension was that the Senate would keep trying over and over again to get that to the floor until... something. So... stay tuned!

Full floor and committee schedules are below the fold.

Recapping yesterday's action:

The House was not in session yesterday.

The Senate debated a few of the pending amendments to the defense authorization bill, confirmed Christopher Droney to the 2nd Circuit bench, began the Rule XIV process to bring the payroll tax cut extension bill to the floor, and filed for cloture on the defense bill.

Looking ahead to today:

The House gets its traditional late start on a nothingburger of a day, coming back on a Tuesday afternoon and delaying votes until 6:30 p.m. on a series of four suspension bills.

The Senate will continue its consideration of the defense bill and the pending amendments, letting the clock run on ripening the cloture motion filed today, which could bring us to a vote as early as Wednesday morning, but then (if successful) up to 30 more hours of debate after that. The tax cut extension bill won't be ready for Rule XIV consideration until Wednesday, but if they hope to get to that soon, they'll have to bring it up either before voting on cloture, or only if cloture on the defense bill fails, because if that cloture motion succeeds, then the defense bill remains the pending business until it's completed, and that backs the tax bill up into late Thursday or even Friday. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Today's floor and committee schedules appear below the fold.

Recapping Last Week in Congress

My favorite kind of week to recap: Congress was in recess for the Thanksgiving holiday last week. But just as a reminder, when our heroes last left us, they had debated a doomed "Balanced Budget Amendment," a federalization of concealed carry gun permitting, and quietly passed another continuing appropriations measure. This latest one funds much of the government (the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Health and Human Services', Food and Drug Administration, Housing and Urban Development, Justice, Transportation; the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Science Foundation, and other small agencies) through the end of the fiscal year, though some departments remain on only a short-term lifeline, through December 16th.

This Week in Congress

This week in the House will set off your B.S. meter for sure. Here's what's pending (besides the customary suspension bills to begin the week):the "Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act," the "Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act," and the "Regulatory Accountability Act." And yet, I'm not expecting much in the way of Democracy, Fairness, Flexibility Improvements or Accountability. Just to mix things up a bit, the House will also consider a bill to terminate taxpayer financing of presidential election campaigns and party conventions and the Election Assistance Commission.

The Senate schedule begins with a resumption of consideration of the defense authorization bill, with just a quick detour for the consideration of one more judicial nomination. The defense bill is quickly shaping up to be a major battle, though. Look for the biggest confrontations to be over detainee policy, an area in which Congress has recently discovered it may actually have an interest, versus the "unitary executive" and "commander in chief" model that prevailed until... well, until about the time the commander in chief job changed hands. Still, the fact that Congress should be taking a greater interest here doesn't necessarily mean they'll do a particularly good job of it. In fact, Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO) doesn't think it they have, and his amendment to strike the relevant provisions of the bill likely be one of the biggest fights this week. With a long (and growing) list of amendments pending, the defense bill could consume the entire week, if not more. But we should also note that there are indications that the Senate could shift its attention to the extension of the payroll tax cut, or at least try to. We'll have to wait and see how much dust Republicans are interested in kicking up on that subject.

Recapping yesterday's action:

The House moved quickly to agree to the conference report on H.R. 2112, the bill the Senate turned into the first "minibus" last week, and which became the new continuing appropriations bill in conference. Then it launched into the first half of a five-hour debate on the Balanced Budget Amendment, before adjourning for the evening.

The Senate also made time for agreeing to the continuing appropriations bill once it was received from the House, fitting it in between periods of ongoing debate and consideration of amendments on the Defense authorization bill. By the way, take a look at the list of pending amendments to the bill. What a fun place the Senate is, eh?

Just for the record, let me note that during today's proceedings, Senator Barrasso (R-WY) put a hold on the nomination of Kenneth J. Kopocis, to be an Assistant Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Barrasso may or may not insist, if asked, that he was objecting on someone else's behalf. But if unanimous consent is asked and you object, you own the hold. The end. Just wanted to put that out there.

Looking ahead to today:

The House will begin with consideration of a rule for their latest labor union-bashing bill, the "Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act." How much you wanna bet there ain't much democracy or fairness in it? We'll find out next week, since it looks like they'll be postponing debate on the actual bill until then.

After the rule is dispensed with, they'll finish up the second half of the five hours of debate and then a vote on the Balanced Budget Amendment, apparently in an effort to erase the "workforce" part of the "Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act" that already has no democracy or fairness in it.

The Senate continues its consideration of the defense bill today, but no roll call votes are scheduled, so most Senators likely left town last night and won't be around for debate.

Today's floor and committee schedules appear below the fold.