In the House, courtesy of the Office of the Majority Leader:
FLOOR SCHEDULE FOR WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2010
House Meets At: 10:00 a.m.: Legislative Business
First Vote Predicted: 12:00 – 1:00 p.m.
Last Vote Predicted: Evening
“One Minutes” (15 per side)
H.R. 2965 – Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act of 2010 (Reps. Patrick Murphy/Hoyer – Armed Services) (Subject to a Rule)
Possible Further Action on H.R. 4853 – Middle Class Tax Relief Act of 2010 (Rep. Levin – Ways and Means) (If amended by the Senate)
Suspensions (22 Bills)
- H.R. 6494 - To amend the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 to improve the Littoral Combat Ship program of the Navy (Rep. Taylor - Armed Services)
- H.Res. 1761 - Congratulating Auburn University quarterback and College Park, Georgia, native Cameron Newton on winning the 2010 Heisman Trophy for being the most outstanding college football player in the United States (Rep. Rogers (AL) - Education and Labor)
- S. 4010 - A bill for the relief of Shigeru Yamada (Sen. Feinstein - Judiciary)
- S. 1774 - A bill for the relief of Hotaru Nakama Ferschke (Sen. Webb - Judiciary)
- S. 3036 - National Alzheimer's Project Act (Sen. Bayh - Energy and Commerce)
- H.Res. 1600 - Supporting the critical role of the physician assistant profession and supporting the goals and ideals of National Physician Assistant Week (Rep. McCollum - Energy and Commerce)
- S. 3199 - Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Act of 2010 (Sen. Snowe - Energy and Commerce)
- S. 30 - Truth in Caller ID Act (Sen. Nelson (FL) - Energy and Commerce)
- S. 841 - Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act (Sen. Kerry - Energy and Commerce)
- S. 3386 - Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act (Sen. Rockefeller - Energy and Commerce)
- H.R. 4337 - Regulated Investment Company Modernization Act (Rep. Rangel - Ways and Means)
- H.R. 6517 - Omnibus Trade Act of 2010 (Rep. Levin - Ways and Means)
- H.R. __ - Miscellaneous Trade and Technical Corrections Act of 2010 (Rep. Levin - Ways and Means)
- S. 3860 - A bill to require reports on the management of Arlington National Cemetery (Sen. McCaskill - Veterans' Affairs)
- S. 3447 - Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Improvements Act of 2010 (Sen. Akaka - Veterans' Affairs)
- H.Res. __ - Supporting a negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and condemning unilateral declarations of a Palestinian state (Rep. Berman - Foreign Affairs)
- S. 987 - International Protecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act of 2010 (Sen. Durbin - Foreign Affairs)
- H.Res. 20 - Calling on the State Department to list the Socialist Republic of Vietnam as a "Country of Particular Concern" with respect to religious freedom. (Rep. Royce - Foreign Affairs)
- H.Res. 1757 - Providing for the approval of final regulations issued by the Office of Compliance to implement the Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 that apply to the House of Representatives and employees of the House of Representatives (Rep. Brady (PA) - House Administration)
- S.Con.Res. 77 - A concurrent resolution to provide for the approval of final regulations issued by the Office of Compliance to implement the Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 that apply to certain legislative branch employing offices and their covered employees (Sen. Schumer - House Administration)
- H.R. 5493 - To provide for the furnishing of statues by the District of Columbia for display in Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol (Rep. Norton - House Administration)
- H.Res. 1377 - Honoring the accomplishments of Norman Yoshio Mineta (Rep. Honda - House Administration)
Postponed Suspension Votes (5 Bills):
- S.Con.Res. 72 - A concurrent resolution recognizing the 45th anniversary of the White House Fellows Program (Sen. Brownback - Oversight and Government Reform)
- H.R. 6205 - To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1449 West Avenue in Bronx, New York, as the "Private Isaac T. Cortes Post Office" (Rep. Crowley - Oversight and Government Reform)
- H.Res. 1743 - Congratulating Gerda Weissmann Klein on being selected to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom (Rep. Mitchell - Oversight and Government Reform)
- H.R. 5446 - To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 600 Florida Avenue in Cocoa, Florida, as the "Harry T. and Harriette Moore Post Office" (Rep. Posey - Oversight and Government Reform)
- H.Res. 1759 - Expressing support for designation of January 23rd as "Ed Roberts Day" (Rep. George Miller - Education and Labor)
- Conference Reports may be brought up at any time.
Motions to go to Conference should they become available.
Possible Motions to Instruct Conferees.
In the Senate, courtesy of the Office of the Majority Leader:
Convenes: 9:30am
Following any Leader remarks, there will be a period of morning business until 11:00am with senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each. At 10:00am, Senator Bayh will deliver his farewell remarks and at 10:30am Senator Voinovich will deliver his farewell remarks.
At 11:00am, the Senate will resume consideration of the House message on H.R.4853, the vehicle for the tax compromise. At approximately 12:00 noon, there will be a series of up to 4 roll call votes in relation to the following items:
- Coburn motion to suspend Rule 22 for the purpose of proposing and considering amendment #4765 (to pay for the costs of extending unemployment insurance payments by reducing unnecessary and duplicative spending);
- DeMint motion to suspend Rule 22 for the purpose of proposing and considering amendment #4804 (to permanently extend the 2001 and 2003 tax relief provisions, and to permanently repeal the estate tax, and to provide permanent alternative minimum tax relief);
- Sanders motion to suspend Rule 22 for the purpose of proposing and considering amendment #4809 (to provide an extension of 2010 tax cuts only for the bottom 98 percent of taxpayers, to provide for responsible estate tax reform, to extend the making work pay credit in lieu of a payroll tax holiday, to provide relief to senior citizens, and to provide for improvements in infrastructure, energy, and water); and
- Reid motion to concur in the House amendment to the Senate amendment to H.R.4853, with Reid-McConnell amendment #4753 (tax compromise).
Following the votes, the Senate will resume morning business until 2:15pm with senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.
At 2:15pm, there will be a roll call vote on the motion to proceed to Executive Session to consider the START Treaty.
Following that vote, Senator Lincoln will be recognized to give her farewell remarks to the Senate. Following her remarks and any of her colleagues, the Senate will resume Executive session at the same status prior to her remarks in legislative session. We expect the Republicans to object to dispensing with the reading of the treaty. If that is the case, we estimate it will take the clerks approximately 15 hours to read the treaty live.
The House dives right into business today, starting with consideration of a stand-alone DADT repeal measure. Actually, they'll once again be amending a bill that's been bouncing back and forth between the House and Senate with dueling amendments, but which originally had nothing to do with the purpose it'll ultimately serve. In this case, it's H.R. 2965, which was originally about reauthorizing the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs of the Small Business Administration (SBA).
Why do it this way? Once again, it's about getting around the motion to recommit. (See the explanation given the last time the House did this.)
The second substantive matter the House has on its schedule is the tax cut extension bill, but they have to wait to see how that emerges from the Senate first. So while they're waiting, they'll occupy their time with some of the 22 suspensions and/or the 5 postponed votes on yesterday's suspensions.
Speaking of the tax cut extension bill, then, that's the first order of business in the Senate today. Well, the first substantive order of business. First, it's another pair of farewell speeches. But after that, it's the tax bill, starting with three long-shot votes on amendments to "the deal," followed by a vote on "the deal" itself.
The three amendments are long shots, because they're being offered as motions to suspend the rules, meaning they'll need a 2/3 vote to pass. They need to suspend the rules, because they're being offered after cloture rules have cut off the amendment process. And what a study in contrasts the proposed amendments are. The Coburn amendment, proposing spending cuts to pay for the unemployment insurance (UI) benefits extensions; the DeMint amendment, proposing that Republicans get their entire wish list for ever and ever, amen, despite having earlier rejected a vote on exactly that, and; the Sanders amendment jettisoning the cuts for the rich, swapping the payroll tax holiday for an extension of the Making Work Pay credit, etc.
And then, when those are dispensed with, a vote on the motion to swap out the text of the House version of the extensions for the text of "the deal."
But wait, there's more! After a brief break for yet another farewell speech, the Republicans will force the clerks to read the entire START treaty aloud. For about 15 hours.
At least we'll be 15 hours closer to...
Today's committee schedule appears below.