In the House, courtesy of the Office of the Majority Leader:
FLOOR SCHEDULE FOR WEDNESDAY, JUNE 30, 2010
House Meets At... 10:00 a.m.: Legislative Business
First Vote Predicted... 10:30 a.m.
Last Vote Predicted... Evening
***Members are advised that votes could occur as early as 10:30 a.m.
"One Minutes" (15 per side)
H.Res. 1487 - Same Day Consideration Rule - Waiving a requirement of clause 6(a) of rule XIII with respect to consideration of certain resolutions reported from the Committee on Rules (Rep. Slaughter – Rules)
Conference Report on H.R. 4173 – Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 (Rep. Frank – Financial Services) (Subject to a Rule)
Possible Consideration of H.R. 5618 - Restoration of Emergency Unemployment Compensation Act (Rep. McDermott - Ways and Means) (Subject to a Rule)
Suspensions (11 Bills)
- H.R. 5609 - To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to treat as a foreign national under such Act any registered lobbyist whose clients include foreign governments which are found to be sponsors of international terrorism or include other foreign nationals (Rep. Hall (NY) - House Administration)
- H.R. 5503 - Securing Protections for the Injured from Limitations on Liability Act (Rep. Conyers - Judiciary)
- H.Res. 1321 - Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the political situation in Thailand be solved peacefully and through democratic means (Rep. Faleomavaega - Foreign Affairs)
- H.Res. 1405 - Congratulating the people of the 17 African nations that in 2010 are marking the 50th year of their national independence (Rep. Rush - Foreign Affairs)
- H.Res. 1412 - Congratulating the Government of South Africa upon its first two successful convictions for human trafficking (Rep. Smith (NJ) - Foreign Affairs)
- S. 3104 - Permanently authorizing Radio Free Asia (Sen. Lugar - Foreign Affairs)
- H.Res. 1462 - Expressing support for the people of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador as they persevere through the aftermath of Tropical Storm Agatha which swept across Central America causing deadly floods and mudslides (Rep. Mack - Foreign Affairs)
- Senate Amendments to H.R. 3360 - Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act (Rep. Matsui - Transportation and Infrastructure)
- H.Con.Res. 289 - Directing the Clerk of the House of Representatives to make a technical correction in the enrollment of H.R. 3360 (Rep. Cummings - Transportation and Infrastructure)
- H.Con.Res. 290 - Expressing support for designation of June 30 as "National ESIGN Day" (Rep. McDermott - Energy and Commerce)
- H.R. 5610 - Independent Living Centers Technical Adjustment Act (Rep. George Miller - Education and Labor)
Postponed Suspension Votes (10 Bills)
- H.Con.Res. 284 - Recognizing the work and importance of special education teachers (Rep. Sessions - Education and Labor)
- H.R. 5395 - To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 151 North Maitland Avenue in Maitland, Florida, as the "Paula Hawkins Post Office Building" (Rep. Mica - Oversight and Government Reform)
- H.R. 4505 - To enable State homes to furnish nursing home care to parents any of whose children died while serving in the Armed Forces (Rep. Thornberry - Veterans' Affairs)
- H.Res. 1446 - Recognizing the residents of the City of Tracy, California, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the city's incorporation, for their century of dedicated service to the United States (Rep. McNerney - Veterans' Affairs)
- H.Res. 1228 - Honoring the veterans of Helicopter Attack Light Squadron Three and their families (Rep. Boozman - Veterans' Affairs)
- H.R. 4307 - To name the Department of Veterans Affairs community-based outpatient clinic in Artesia, New Mexico, as the "Alejandro Renteria Ruiz Department of Veterans Affairs Clinic" (Rep. Teague - Veterans' Affairs)
- H.R. 1554 - Fountainhead Property Land Transfer Act (Rep. Boren - Natural Resources)
- H.R. 4445 - Indian Pueblo Cultural Center Clarification Act (Rep. Heinrich - Natural Resources)
- H.R. 2340 - Salmon Lake Land Selection Resolution Act (Rep. Young (AK) - Natural Resources)
- H.Res. 1460 - Recognizing the important role pollinators play in supporting the ecosystem and supporting the goals and ideals of National Pollinator Week (Rep. Hastings (FL) - Agriculture)
- 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 2 hours of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each. Senators will be permitted to pay tribute to Senator Byrd during this period of morning business.
Following morning business, the Senate will proceed to Executive Session to consider the nomination of David Patreaus to be General. There will be up to 20 minutes for debate equally divided and controlled between Senators Levin and McCain or their designees. Upon the use or yielding back of time, the Senate will proceed to vote on confirmation of the Patreaus nomination (around 12:00 noon).
Upon disposition of the nomination, we hope to resume consideration of HR5297, Small Business Jobs bill.
Additional roll call votes are expected to occur throughout the afternoon and evening in relation to the Small Business Jobs bill and/or Unemployment Insurance/Home Buyer Tax credit extension (House Message on HR4213, Tax Extenders), if an agreement can be reached.
Wow. What a day! It's like the whole week wrapped up in one! How did we get to Wednesday with 21 suspensions to deal with, plus the Dodd-Frank conference report and maybe the unemployment insurance extension bill? And where are we going to find the time for that plus 15 "one minutes" per side? Well, I guess that's the key to understanding the prediction of the last vote as simply, "evening."
Now, what about that conference report on the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform bill? I thought that if they made changes to that -- and they did -- that there had to be a 72 hour waiting period before they could vote on it in the House. And yet here it is, just having been changed last night, and on the schedule today. What's up with that?
Well, like most inconvenient things in the House, that rule can be dispensed with by a majority vote -- that is, if a majority agrees to adopt a rule for the conference report's consideration that waives the 72-hour rule. "But wait," you're saying. "They haven't adopted such a rule, and further, there's a rule in the House that says you can't adopt a rule on the same day it's reported out of the Rules Committee, so there's not even going to be a chance to waive the 72-hour rule today!"
What did I just tell you? Inconvenient rules can be dispensed with in the House. Also on the schedule for today is a rule (H. Res. 1487) that waives the rule against same day consideration of a rule governing debate of that conference report. That means they'll adopt a rule waiving the rule against considering a rule for the conference report on the same day it's reported out, and that rule will itself likely waive the 72-hour rule. Can they do that? Yes, so long as they reported H. Res. 1487 yesterday, which they did. So now it's in order to consider the rule waiving the same-day rule, so that they can waive the 72-hour rule.
Get it? They've got to:
- Pass rule #1 (reported yesterday) that waives the rule against considering rules on the same day they're reported so that they can;
- consider rule #2 on the same day it's reported, so that;
- rule #2 can waive the rule requiring a 72-hour layover for the conference report, so that
- they can debate and pass the newly-changed conference report and send it to the Senate, so that;
- the Senate can pass the conference report and thereby finish the bill and send it to the President
That'll cause some complaint, of course, but that's the nature of the House. And besides, everyone who cared got a copy of the conference report over the weekend, and the changes made last night were not only relatively easy to grasp, but were made at the request of Republicans, who are the most likely to be the ones griping about all this rule-waiving.
How can they just do all this rule-waiving? It's in the Constitution: "Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings...." So why can't the Senate do that? If you want to get right down to it, it probably can. But that's a story for another day. For now, suffice to say that they won't, but that they require just 48 hours layover for conference reports, so they'll be fine, since they won't vote until after the House is done.
What else is up in the House? They may have another go at the new, stand-alone unemployment insurance benefits extension bill. They tried that one yesterday under suspension of the rules, but that requires a 2/3 vote to pass (290 votes in a full House), and they only got 261. That's a strong showing, though, so they're hoping to come back today with the same bill under "regular order" and pass it with a normal majority vote.
In the Senate, they're ready to move to the confirmation of General Petraeus, after a whopping 20 minutes of debate. Afterwards, it's on to the Small Business Jobs bill, the Senate having invoked cloture on the motion to proceed to it yesterday by a vote of 66-33. And maybe -- just maybe -- they'll strike a deal on either the pared down tax extenders bill, or maybe move instead to consideration of their own stand-alone unemployment benefits extension bill. Or maybe take up the House's version, if that arrives any time soon. Hey, who knows? It's a constant party over there in the Senate!
Today's full committee schedule appears below.
