This Week In Washington
by BarbinMD
Sat Jan 03, 2009 at 03:00:05 PM PDT
If you blinked, you missed it. Yesterday, the 110th Congress officially ended with a 27-second pro forma session, and on Tuesday, the 111th Congress will begin in what promises to be an action-packed week.
President-elect Obama and his family arrive in Washington tomorrow, ahead of a meeting on Monday with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Republican leader John Boehner and Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, to discuss the $800 billion stimulus package Congress hopes to have on Obama's desk by January 20th.
On Wednesday, Obama will meet at the White House for lunch with George W. Bush and former Presidents Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, and Jimmy Carter.
And what about Vice President-elect Biden? He'll be at the Capitol Building on Tuesday, being sworn in for his seventh term as a U.S. Senator, before handing over the reins to Ted Kaufman.
If only every "changing of the guard" could go as smoothly as Delaware and Colorado's did, because as of this writing, only 98 Senators will be sworn in on Tuesday, as the never ending recount continues in Minnesota, and of course, the uncertain status of the appointment of Roland Burris.
The coming week also marks the start of the confirmation hearings of the nominees for Cabinet positions:
- 10:00 AM Thursday, January 8, 2009: Confirmation Hearing for Secretary of Health and Human Services-Designate, Former Senate Majority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.)
- 9:30 AM Friday, January 9, 2009: Confirmation Hearing for Secretary of Labor-Designate, Rep. Hilda L. Solis (D-Calif.)
Follow the action at Congress Matters, where Kagro X will be providing real time analysis of the proceedings.
The upcoming week has the potential to be very interesting. We'll have an almost, a current, and three former Presidents coming together for the first time. With a planned Rose Garden photo-op, body language experts should have a field day. John Cornyn, getting a head start on Republican obstructionism, is promising to filibuster any attempt to seat Al Franken, while Roland Burris may face armed guards if he tries to be seated. And we can look forward to Republicans from both houses to suddenly remember their so-called fiscal conservatism, as they fight tooth-and-nail against the Democratic proposal for the economy. Good times.
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