Recapping Last Week in Congress
The House worked through and passed its patent bill, H.R. 1249, the "America Invents Act." And since no week would be complete without also passing a drilling free-for-all bill, they threw one of those in there, too, as H.R. 2021, the "Jobs and Energy Permitting Act." You'll note that for good measure, they've attached the word "jobs" to it. So... jobs! And we're done.
Not addressed: the debt ceiling. And also, no further appropriations work. With July approaching, that's an issue. But the House can always move those bills quickly. Provided they're ready. I don't have any real doubt about the Republicans' ability to get them ready, though. For conservatives, they've got an odd knack for centralized economic planning.
The Senate successfully managed several executive and judicial appointments, including that of Leon Panetta as Secretary of Defense. They were, however, unsuccessful in invoking cloture on S. 782, the Economic Development Revitalization Act. That, again, tells us something about the future of the Republican jobs agenda. Unable to move forward on the EDRA, the Senate shifted to S. 679, the "Presidential Appointment Efficiency and Streamlining Act." Ironically, the bill aimed at minimizing filibuster delays was itself nearly filibustered, but for what it's worth, an agreement was reached and the Senate voted on a grand total of two amendments to the bill last week.
Not addressed: the debt ceiling. And also, no appropriations work. That's a bigger concern in the Senate than it is in the House, given how quickly the filibuster can bog any piece of legislation down. Let alone a raft of 13 of them.
This Week in Congress
The House is not in session this week.
The only things definitely inscribed on the calendar for this week are the nominations votes agreed to last week. The main attraction on that count is the nomination of James Cole as Deputy Attorney General. Cole, as I've pointed out in the past, is the former special counsel to the House ethics committee who busted Newt Gingrich back in the 90s. For a while, he found his nomination blocked. But now that Newt's self-destructed (again), we find his nomination making its way to the floor and to a vote. What a coincidence!
That's all they've committed to so far this week. Still pending is the Presidential Appointment Efficiency and Streamlining Act, which has amendments piling up. And technically, the EDRA is still out there, too, though it's perhaps less likely that they'll return to that before wrapping up the "efficiency" bill. Let's see how long that takes.
Oh, one item of special note:
Following any Leader remarks, the Senate will be in morning business until 6pm with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each with the exception of Senator Sanders, who will be recognized at 4pm for up to 90 minutes.
There won't be anything to vote on, but you can bet that when Bernie Sanders blocks out 90 minutes, he'll have something worth saying. He's been on a tear on Twitter (see his #SharedSacrifice hashtag), so we might well expect something special out of this.
Full floor and committee schedules are below the fold.
The House is not in session this week.
In the Senate, courtesy of the Office of the Majority Leader:
Monday:
Senate Floor Schedule for Monday, June 27, 2011
Convenes: 2pm
Following any Leader remarks, the Senate will be in morning business until 6pm with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each with the exception of Senator Sanders, who will be recognized at 4pm for up to 90 minutes.
As previously announced, there will be no roll call votes on Monday. The next roll call vote will occur prior at approximately 12:00pm on Tuesday, June 28, 2011 on confirmation of the Cole nomination.
Tuesday:
Roll call vote at approx 12pm Tuesday, June 28
The Senate previously entered into a consent agreement with respect to the Cole, Monaco and Seitz nominations and has now determined a time to begin debate on the nominations.
At 10am on Tuesday, June 28th, the Senate will proceed to Executive Session to consider the following nominations, en bloc:
- Calendar #62 James Michael Cole, of the District of Columbia, to be Deputy Attorney General
- Calendar #145 Lisa O. Monaco, of the District of Columbia, to be an Assistant Attorney General
- Calendar #110 Virginia A. Seitz, of the District of Columbia, to be an Assistant Attorney General
There will be 2 hours for concurrent debate on the nominations equally divided in the usual form. Upon the use or yielding back of time (at approximately 12:00pm), the Senate will proceed to vote on the nominations in the order listed.