In the House, courtesy of the Office of the Majority Leader:
First Vote of the Week... Tuesday 6:30 p.m.
Last Vote Predicted... Friday p.m.
MONDAY, APRIL 19, 2010
On Monday, the House will not be in session.
TUESDAY, APRIL 20, 2010
On Tuesday, the House will meet at 12:30 p.m. for Morning Hour debate and 2:00 p.m. for legislative business with votes postponed until 6:30 p.m.
Suspensions (6 Bills):
- H.R. 4178 - Deposit Restricted Qualified Tuition Programs Act (Rep. Cleaver - Financial Services)
- H.Res. 1257 - Supporting the goals and ideals of National Financial Literacy Month, 2010 (Rep. Hinojosa - Financial Services)
- H.R. 3553 - Indian Veterans Housing Opportunity Act (Rep. Kirkpatrick - Financial Services)
- H.Res. __ - Honoring the life and achievements of Dr. Benjamin Lawson Hooks (Reps. Conyers/Cohen - Judiciary)
- H.Res. 1104 - Supporting the mission and goals of 2010 National Crime Victims' Rights Week to increase public awareness of the rights, needs, and concerns of victims and survivors of crime in the United States (Rep. Costa - Judiciary)
- H.Res. 1116 - Supporting the goals and ideals of Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Week (Rep. Lee (CA) - Energy and Commerce)
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2010 AND THE BALANCE OF THE WEEK
On Wednesday and Thursday, the House will meet at 10:00 a.m. for legislative business. On Friday, the House will meet at 9:00 a.m. for legislative business.
Suspensions (10 Bills):
- S. 1963 - Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act (Sen. Akaka - Veterans' Affairs)
- H.Res. 855 - Expressing support for designation of May 1 as "Silver Star Service Banner Day" (Rep. Blunt - Oversight and Government Reform)
- H.Res. 1262 - Expressing condolences to the families, friends, and loved ones of the victims of the fire at the Tesoro refinery in Anacortes, Washington (Rep. Larsen - Oversight and Government Reform)
- H.Con.Res. 255 - Commemorating the 40th anniversary of Earth Day and honoring the founder of Earth Day, the late Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin (Rep. Obey - Oversight and Government Reform)
- H.Res. 1182 - Congratulating Radford University on the 100th anniversary of the university (Rep. Boucher - Education and Labor)
- H.Res. 1239 - Commending the University of Connecticut Huskies for their historic win in the 2010 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament (Rep. Courtney - Education and Labor)
- H.R. 1585 - FIT Kids Act (Rep. Kind - Education and Labor)
- H.Res. 1263 - Expressing support for Mathematics Awareness Month (Rep. McMorris Rodgers - Education and Labor)
- H.Res. __ - Recognizing the continued importance of volunteerism and national service and commemorating the anniversary of the signing of the landmark service legislation, the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act (Rep. George Miller - Education and Labor)
- H.Res. 1216 - Congratulating Reverend Daniel P. Coughlin on his tenth year of service as Chaplain of the House of Representatives (Rep. Lipinski - House Administration)
Motion to Go to Conference on H.R. 2194 - Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act (Rep. Berman – Foreign Affairs) Motion to Instruct Conferees.
H.R. 157 - District of Columbia House Voting Rights Act (Rep. Norton – Judiciary) (Subject to a Rule)
- 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: 2:00pm
Morning Business until 3:00pm with senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.
Following morning business, the Senate will proceed to Executive Session to debate the nomination of Lael Brainard to be Under Secretary of the Treasury. At 5:30pm, the Senate will proceed to roll call vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the Brainard nomination.
As a reminder, Senator Reid filed cloture on the following nominations:
- Lael Brainard, of the District of Columbia, to be an Under Secretary of the Treasury;
- Marisa J. Demeo, of the district of Columbia, to be an Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia;
- Christopher H. Schroeder, of North Carolina, to be an Assistant Attorney General;
- Thomas I. Vanaskie, of Pennsylvania, to be United States Circuit Judge for the Third Circuit; and
- Denny Chin, of New York, to be United States Circuit Judge for the Second Circuit.
Votes:
5:30pm cloture vote on the nomination of Lael Brainard to be Under Secretary of the Treasury.
Some more recognizable substantive work on the floors of the two houses this week: Iran sanctions (which is not a big favorite) and DC voting rights (which is) in the House, and; five executive and judicial nominations in the Senate.
That DC voting rights bill, as you can tell by the relatively low number, has been languishing in the House for some time. You may recall that it stalled last year over Republican insistence on including gun provisions in the bill (helped along by Democratic acquiescence, lack of discipline on motions to recommit, etc.). Well, it still does contain those provisions. It's just that DC Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton and the leadership are now willing to accept those provisions in exchange for getting the bill through, the unspoken subtext being that voting rights ought to be secured before risking that the composition of the Congress might change too much in the next election.
And after the Senate gets through with whatever work it's committing to on nominations, we may at last see them take up their end of the financial regulatory reform legislation.
In the committees, budget work continues, though we're now past the traditional date by which the budget resolution is adopted. Things will stretch out some this year, due in large part to the extended fight over health insurance reform. But there's more to it than that. President Obama's call for a spending freeze, you may recall, wasn't received all that enthusiastically among Congressional Democrats, and that's causing some difficulty (as you might imagine) in moving a formal budget document forward. Remember, the President doesn't actually write the budget -- Congress does -- though he can have enormous influence on how they work. So, go with a hard freeze? Tinker with the freeze idea and cap overall numbers but make some changes based on priorities? Go the President one better and make cuts? There are factions for each option, and until the question's settled internally, we won't see a budget moving forward.
Can you live without a budget resolution? Yes. The FY2010 budget resolution was a five year plan, and we'd just operate under year two of that plan. But if Dems were interested in making further use of reconciliation procedures this year, they'd likely need a new set of instructions, which means they'd need a new budget resolution as a vehicle for them. So there's perhaps a little more than the usual pressure for producing a budget.
This week's committee schedule, appearing below, is once again provided by the work of Jeremy Koulish of Carrots & Sticks. But he's looking for help. Any volunteers? It'd make a great summer internship if you're eligible for credit (or even if you're not). Where else will you become familiar with the entire committee structure, all the subcommittees, their jurisdiction, scheduling habits, preferred witnesses, etc.? Seriously! It's educational. Listen, I'm not joking! This is my job! (I think I've used that joke before.) And of course, there's more to it than the schedules, though that's the part that makes This Week in Congress tick. Plus, you get to be "famous," if having your name included in the least-commented-upon weekly feature in all of Daily Kosdom counts as being famous. If you're interested, send a resume and cover letter to him at jeremy@carrotsandsticks.org
In the committees:
House
Committee | Date | Time | Purpose | View Online? |
Homeland Security | Mon. 4/19 | 10:00 am | Subcommittee on Management, Investigations and Oversight: Field Hearing in Plant City, FL: Unclogging Pipeline Security: Are the Lines of Responsibility Clear? | No |
Agriculture | Tues. 4/20 | 9:30 am | Field Hearing in Harrisburg, PA: Dairy policy | No |
Transportation and Infrastructure | Tues. 4/20 | 9:30 am | Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials: Field Hearing in Chicago: High-Speed Rail Grants Awarded under the Recovery Act | No |
Financial Services | Tues. 4/20 | 11:00 am | Public Policy Issues Raised by the Report of the Lehman Bankruptcy Examiner | Yes |
Oversight and Government Reform | Tues. 4/20 | 2:00 pm | Domestic Policy Subcommittee: Nuclear Power's Federal Loan Guarantees: The Next Multi-Billion Dollar Bailout? | Yes |
Appropriations | Tues. 4/20 | 5:00 pm | Select Intelligence Oversight Panel: National Security Agency FY2011 budget | No |
Armed Services | Tues. 4/20 | 5:30 pm | Military Personnel Subcommittee: Implementation of the requirement to provide a medical examination before separating members diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and the capacity of the Department of Defense to provide care to PTSD cases | ??? |
Appropriations | Wed. 4/21 | 10:00 am | Defense Subcommittee: National Capitol Region | No |
Appropriations | Wed. 4/21 | 10:00 am | Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee: FY2011 Budget Request for the District of Columbia | No |
Appropriations | Wed. 4/21 | 10:00 am | Labor, HHS, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee: FY2011 Budget Overview: Department of Health and Human Services | Yes |
Appropriations | Wed. 4/21 | 10:00 am | Homeland Security Subcommittee: Testimony from members of Congress and public witnesses | No |
Appropriations | Wed. 4/21 | 10:00 am | Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Subcommittee: The Status of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Including the FY2011 Budget Request | No |
Armed Services | Wed. 4/21 | 10:00 am | Markup of H.R. 5013, Implementing Management for Performance and Related Reforms to Obtain Value in Every Acquisition Act of 2010 (IMPROVE Acquisition Act of 2010) | Yes |
Education and Labor | Wed. 4/21 | 10:00 am | Reforming the Juvenile Justice System to Improve Children’s Lives and Public Safety | Yes |
Energy and Commerce | Wed. 4/21 | 10:00 am | Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet: The National Broadband Plan: Deploying Quality Broadband Services To The Last Mile | Yes |
Financial Services | Wed. 4/21 | 10:00 am | Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored Enterprises: Corporate Governance and Shareholder Empowerment | Yes |
Foreign Affairs | Wed. 4/21 | 10:00 am | Stopping the Spread of Nuclear Weapons, Countering Nuclear Terrorism: The NPT Review Conference and the Nuclear Security Summit | Yes |
Homeland Security | Wed. 4/21 | 10:00 am | Viewpoints on Homeland Security: A Discussion with the WMD Commissioners | Yes |
Natural Resources | Wed. 4/21 | 10:00 am | Hearing On H.R. 4445 (Indian Pueblo Cultural Center Clarification Act), H.R. 1554 (Fountainhead Property Land Transfer Act) and H.R. 2340 (Salmon Lake Land Selection Resolution Act) | Yes |
Oversight and Government Reform | Wed. 4/21 | 10:00 am | Challenges Facing the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) | Yes |
Science and Technology | Wed. 4/21 | 10:00 am | Markup of the Committee Print - National Institute of Standards and Technology programs | Yes |
Agriculture | Wed. 4/21 | 11:00 am | U.S. agriculture policy in advance of the 2012 Farm Bill | Yes |
Armed Services | Wed. 4/21 | 1:30 pm | Military Personnel Subcommittee: Defense Health Program | Yes |
Foreign Affairs | Wed. 4/21 | 1:30 pm | Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia: Neither Appeasement nor Improvement? Prospects for U.S. Engagement with Syria | Yes |
Appropriations | Wed. 4/21 | 2:00 pm | Legislative Branch Subcommittee: FY2011 Budgets of the Library of Congress, the Government Printing Office, and the Open World Leadership Center | No |
Armed Services | Wed. 4/21 | 2:00 pm | Strategic Forces Subcommittee: Space posture review and the Fiscal Year 2011 National Defense Authorization Budget Request for national security space activities | ??? |
Financial Services | Wed. 4/21 | 2:00 pm | Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity: Legislative Proposals to Reform the National Flood Insurance Program | Yes |
Transportation and Infrastructure | Wed. 4/21 | 2:00 pm | Subcommittee on Aviation: NextGen: Long-Term Planning and Interagency Cooperation | Yes |
Judiciary | Thurs. 4/22 | 9:30 am | Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law: Hearing on H.R. 5043, the "Private Student Loan Bankruptcy Fairness Act of 2010" | Yes |
Appropriations | Thurs. 4/22 | 10:00 am | Agriculture, Rural Development, FDA, and Related Agencies Subcommittee: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Inspector General Oversight | No |
Appropriations | Thurs. 4/22 | 10:00 am | Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Subcommittee: Office of Justice Programs FY2011 Budget | No |
Appropriations | Thurs. 4/22 | 10:00 am | Defense Subcommittee: Defense Health Program/Wounded Warrior | No |
Appropriations | Thurs. 4/22 | 10:00 am | Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee: Financial Crisis and TARP | Yes |
Education and Labor | Thurs. 4/22 | 10:00 am | Workforce Protections Subcommittee: Hearing on H.R. 4855, Work-Life Balance Award Act | Yes |
Natural Resources | Thurs. 4/22 | 10:00 am | Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife: A Community Perspective on Catch Shares | ??? |
Natural Resources | Thurs. 4/22 | 10:00 am | Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands: Hearing on H.R. 4888 (Cabin Fee Act of | ??? |
Oversight and Government Reform | Thurs. 4/22 | 10:00 am | National Security and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee: Crisis in Kyrgyzstan: Fuel, Contractors, and Revolution along the Afghan Supply Chain | Yes |
Science and Technology | Thurs. 4/22 | 10:00 am | Subcommittee on Investigations & Oversight: Caught by Surprise: Causes and Consequences of the Helium-3 Supply Crisis | Yes |
Ways and Means | Thurs. 4/22 | 10:00 am | Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support: The Role of Education and Training in the TANF Program | ??? |
Agriculture | Thurs. 4/22 | 10:30 am | Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management: Proposals to establish exchanges trading "movie futures" | Yes |
Transportation and Infrastructure | Thurs. 4/22 | 10:30 am | The Department of Transportation's Oversight and Management of Hazardous Materials Special Permits and Approvals | Yes |
Energy and Commerce | Thurs. 4/22 | 1:00 pm | Subcommittee on Health: The Environment And Human Health: The Role Of HHS | Yes |
Judiciary | Thurs. 4/22 | 1:00 pm | Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties: Achieving the Promise of the Americans with Disabilities Act in the Digital Age – Current Issues, Challenges, and Opportunities | Yes |
Armed Services | Thurs. 4/22 | 1:30 pm | Air and Land Forces Subcommittee: Army and Air Force National Guard and Reserve component equipment posture | Yes |
Foreign Affairs | Thurs. 4/22 | 2:00 pm | Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and the Global Environment: Legacies of War: Unexploded Ordnances in Laos | Yes |
Veterans' Affairs | Thurs. 4/22 | 2:00 pm | Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs: Examining VA’s Fiduciary Program: How Can VA Better Protect Vulnerable Veterans and Their Families? | Yes |
Armed Services | Fri. 4/23 | 10:00 am | Military Personnel Subcommittee: Military resale and morale, welfare, and recreation overview | Yes |
Senate
Committee | Date | Time | Purpose | View Online? |
Health, Education, Labor and Pensions | Mon. 4/19 | 11:00 am | Field Hearing in Charlotte: Fostering Innovation in Education | ??? |
Armed Services | Tues. 4/20 | 9:30 am | Ballistic missile defense policies and programs in review of the Defense Authorization Request for Fiscal Year 2011 and the Future Years Defense Program | Yes |
Health, Education, Labor and Pensions | Tues. 4/20 | 9:30 am | Protection from Unjustified Premiums | Yes |
Energy and Natural Resources | Tues. 4/20 | 10:00 am | Carbon capture and sequestration legislation, including S. 1856 (to amend the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to clarify policies regarding ownership of pore space), S.1134 (Responsible Use of Coal Act of 2009), and other draft legislative text | Yes |
Finance | Tues. 4/20 | 10:00 am | The President’s Proposed Fee on Financial Institutions Regarding TARP | Yes |
Judiciary | Tues. 4/20 | 10:00 am | Oversight of the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division | Yes |
Appropriations | Tues. 4/20 | 10:30 am | Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Agencies: FY 2011 Budget Request for Operations and Programs of the U.S. Agency for International Development | No |
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs | Tues. 4/20 | 11:00 am | Border Security: Moving Beyond the Virtual Fence | Yes |
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs | Tues. 4/20 | 2:00 pm | Hearing on the Nominations of Hon. Dennis Walsh to be Chairman, Special Panel of Appeals; Hon. Dana Bilyeu and Michael Kennedy to be Members, Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board; Milton Lee, Judith Smith, and Todd Edelman to be Associate Judges, Superior Court of the District of Columbia | Yes |
Select Intelligence | Tues. 4/20 | 2:30 pm | Closed Hearing: Intelligence Matters | No |
Veterans' Affairs | Wed. 4/21 | 9:30 am | Implementation of the New Post-9/11 GI Bill: Looking Back and Moving Forward | Yes |
Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry | Wed. 4/21 | 9:30 am | Markup of the "Wall Street Transparency and Accountability Act of 2010" | Yes |
Armed Services | Wed. 4/21 | 10:00 am | Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities: Nonproliferation programs at the Departments of Defense and Energy in review of the Defense Authorization Request for Fiscal Year 2011 and the Future Years Defense Program | Yes |
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs | Wed. 4/21 | 10:00 am | The Lessons and Implications of the Christmas Day Attack: Securing the Visa Process | Yes |
Judiciary | Wed. 4/21 | 10:00 am | Combating Cyber Crime and Identity Theft in the Digital Age | Yes |
Appropriations | Wed. 4/21 | 10:30 am | Subcommittee on Defense: The Fiscal Year 2011 Missile Defense Agency Programs and Budget | No |
Small Business and Entrepreneurship | Wed. 4/21 | 2:30 pm | The FY2011 Budget Request for the Small Business Administration | Yes |
Armed Services | Wed. 4/21 | 2:30 pm | Subcommittee on Strategic Forces: Environmental management funding in review of the Defense Authorization Request for Fiscal Year 2011 and funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act | Yes |
Commerce, Science and Transportation | Wed. 4/21 | 2:30 pm | Securing the Nation's Rail and Other Surface Transportation Networks | Yes |
Energy and Natural Resources | Wed. 4/21 | 2:30 pm | Public Lands and Forests Subcommittee: Hearing on S.1546, to provide for the conveyance of certain parcels of land to the town of Mantua, Utah; S.2798, to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire through the facilitation of insect and disease infestation treatment of National Forest System and adjacent land; S.2830, to amend the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 to clarify that uncertified States and Indian tribes have the authority to use certain payments for certain noncoal reclamation projects; and S.2963, to designate certain land in the State of Oregon as wilderness, to provide for the exchange of certain Federal land and non-Federal land | Yes |
Armed Services | Thurs. 4/22 | 9:30 am | Nuclear Posture Review | Yes |
Appropriations | Thurs. 4/22 | 10:00 am | Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies: Overview of the fiscal year 2011 budget request for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration | No |
Appropriations | Thurs. 4/22 | 10:00 am | Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies: Fiscal Year 2011 Military Construction Budget Request for the Department of Army and the Department of Air Force | No |
Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs | Thurs. 4/22 | 10:00 am | Economic Policy Subcommittee: China’s Exchange Rate Policy and Trade Imbalances | Yes |
Commerce, Science and Transportation | Thurs. 4/22 | 10:00 am | Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard Subcommittee: The Environmental and Economic Impacts of Ocean Acidification | Yes |
Health, Education, Labor and Pensions | Thurs. 4/22 | 10:00 am | ESEA Reauthorization: Meeting the Needs of the Whole Student | Yes |
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs | Thurs. 4/22 | 10:00 am | Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia: After the Dust Settles: Examining Challenges and Lessons Learned in Transitioning the Federal Government | Yes |
Rules and Administration | Thurs. 4/22 | 10:00 am | History of the Filibuster, from 1789-2008 | ??? |
Judiciary | Thurs. 4/22 | 10:00 am | Markup of the Nominations of Kerry Harvey to be the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky and David Hale to be the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky; S.1346, the "Crimes Against Humanity Act"; S.657, the "Sunshine in the Courtroom Act"; S.446, to permit the televising of Supreme Court proceedings; S.Res.339, to express the sense of the Senate in support of permitting the televising of Supreme Court proceedings; and S.1684, the "Managing Arson Through Criminal History Act" | Yes |
Foreign Relations | Thurs. 4/22 | 10:30 am | Promoting Global Food Security: Next Steps for Congress and the Administration | Yes |
Special Aging | Thurs. 4/22 | 2:00 pm | The National Broadband Plan and health care technology | Yes |
Indian Affairs | Thurs. 4/22 | 2:15 pm | Hearing on a Discussion Draft of the "Indian Energy Promotion and Parity Act of 2010" | Yes |
Commerce, Science and Transportation | Thurs. 4/22 | 2:30 pm | The Debt Settlement Industry: The Consumer's Experience | Yes |
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs | Thurs. 4/22 | 2:30 pm | Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security: The Future of the U.S. Postal Service | Yes |
Select Intelligence | Thurs. 4/22 | 2:30 pm | Closed Hearing: Intelligence Matters | No |
Judiciary | Thurs. 4/22 | 3:00 pm | Nominations Hearing | Yes |
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs | Fri. 4/23 | 9:30 am | Subcommittee on Investigations: Wall Street and the Financial Crisis: The Role of Credit Rating Agencies | Yes |