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Recapping Last Week in Congress
The House spent its week chiefly on two bills that may never again see the light of day. First, the fake Republican budget and debt ceiling bill that won't cut, cap or balance anything, since it'll almost assuredly never be enacted into law. Kudos, by the way, to the Democratic Whip operation for referring to it as the "Cut, Cap, and End Medicare Act."
Note, too, that the bill doesn't even raise the debt ceiling. Sec. 301 prohibits that until Congress passes a balanced budget amendment. And not just any BBA, either, but a very specific version of it. Since that requires a 2/3 vote in both houses, the fake GOP bill adds that additional hurdle on top of all the problems they're already causing on the debt ceiling. Just what the world needed!
The second long-shot of the week was H.R. 1315, the so-called, "Consumer Financial Protection Safety and Soundness Improvement Act." Psst! Just between you and me, it doesn't really improve anything! Plus, the rule for the bill provided that once H.R. 1315 passed, the Clerk will include the text of H.R. 830 (the FHA Refinance Program Termination Act) in the text of H.R. 1315. H.R. 830, however, drew a veto threat from President Obama months ago. So that'll probably work out great, too.
Top line items in the Senate last week were the MilCon/VA appropriations bill (which passed overwhelmingly, despite requiring a cloture vote on the motion to proceed) and the House's fake budget/debt package (which failed miserably, the Senate voting to table it).
This Week in Congress
Both houses will be in a holding pattern this week, waiting for some legislative vehicle to emerge with which The Deal to Save the World can be moved.
The House waits on pending legislation by filling up its schedule with other stuff that can be put off if necessary. Lots of post office naming bills, for instance. But also plenty of other stuff, including more appropriations bills, and some dubiously named junk like the "North American-Made Energy Security Act" (a bill to fast-track some oil pipelines) and the near-hilarious "Protecting Jobs From Government Interference Act" (preventing the NLRB from... doing anything). And maybe, just maybe, we'll even see a vote on a balanced budget amendment, too.
The Senate has a very different method of hanging around, waiting for things to happen. They have the option to schedule something ponderous and just let it sit there on the floor, or even to schedule nothing in particular and take long recesses and extended quorum calls. On Monday, they've got a few judicial nominations to keep them busy. After that, it's anybody's guess how they'll occupy their floor time while waiting for The Deal's ship to come in.
Full floor and committee schedules are below the fold.
The House spent its week chiefly on two bills that may never again see the light of day. First, the fake Republican budget and debt ceiling bill that won't cut, cap or balance anything, since it'll almost assuredly never be enacted into law. Kudos, by the way, to the Democratic Whip operation for referring to it as the "Cut, Cap, and End Medicare Act."
Note, too, that the bill doesn't even raise the debt ceiling. Sec. 301 prohibits that until Congress passes a balanced budget amendment. And not just any BBA, either, but a very specific version of it. Since that requires a 2/3 vote in both houses, the fake GOP bill adds that additional hurdle on top of all the problems they're already causing on the debt ceiling. Just what the world needed!
The second long-shot of the week was H.R. 1315, the so-called, "Consumer Financial Protection Safety and Soundness Improvement Act." Psst! Just between you and me, it doesn't really improve anything! Plus, the rule for the bill provided that once H.R. 1315 passed, the Clerk will include the text of H.R. 830 (the FHA Refinance Program Termination Act) in the text of H.R. 1315. H.R. 830, however, drew a veto threat from President Obama months ago. So that'll probably work out great, too.
Top line items in the Senate last week were the MilCon/VA appropriations bill (which passed overwhelmingly, despite requiring a cloture vote on the motion to proceed) and the House's fake budget/debt package (which failed miserably, the Senate voting to table it).
This Week in Congress
Both houses will be in a holding pattern this week, waiting for some legislative vehicle to emerge with which The Deal to Save the World can be moved.
The House waits on pending legislation by filling up its schedule with other stuff that can be put off if necessary. Lots of post office naming bills, for instance. But also plenty of other stuff, including more appropriations bills, and some dubiously named junk like the "North American-Made Energy Security Act" (a bill to fast-track some oil pipelines) and the near-hilarious "Protecting Jobs From Government Interference Act" (preventing the NLRB from... doing anything). And maybe, just maybe, we'll even see a vote on a balanced budget amendment, too.
The Senate has a very different method of hanging around, waiting for things to happen. They have the option to schedule something ponderous and just let it sit there on the floor, or even to schedule nothing in particular and take long recesses and extended quorum calls. On Monday, they've got a few judicial nominations to keep them busy. After that, it's anybody's guess how they'll occupy their floor time while waiting for The Deal's ship to come in.
Full floor and committee schedules are below the fold.
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