Politics

The Week Ahead in Congress

By Sunlight Foundation & Participatory Politics Foundation

Everyone’s watching the special Senate election in Massachusetts today, and for good reason. If the Republican candidate, who is ahead in the polls, wins, the health care bill that Congress has been working on for the past 6 months and are just weeks away from completing, will take a sharp turn in a new direction.

A win in Massachusetts for the Republicans would give them a critical 41st vote in the Senate, which, as long as they stick together, would allow them to filibuster virtually anything the Democrats want to do. The Democrats would still hold a 59-seat majority, but Senate rules require a 60-vote supermajority to break filibusters. A Republican win today would mean that either health care reform dies, or that the bill that ends up passing would be significantly more conservative than what would pass if the Democratic candidate prevails. I’ve explained a couple possible scenarios in that case here. Alexander Bolton at The Hill explains another scenario — rushing the bill to passage before the new MA senator is seated — here.

We’ll be watching the MA-Sen race and updating you on what the results mean for health care reform and the other business of Congress. But for now, the House of Representatives is back in session this week with their usual slate of bills to vote on and the Senate comes back from January recess tomorrow. We need to make sure we’re watching what’s happening under the dome as well.

Here’s the House’s full legislative schedule for the week:

TUESDAY, JANUARY 19, 2010

On Tuesday, the House will meet at 12:30 p.m. for Morning Hour debate and 2:00 p.m. for legislative business.

Suspensions (10 Bills)

1)   H.R. 3726 – Castle Nugent National Historic Site Establishment Act of 2009 (Rep. Christensen – Natural Resources)

2)   H.R. 3759 – BLM Contract Extension Act (Rep. DeFazio – Natural Resources)

3)   H.R. 725 – Indian Arts and Crafts Amendments Act of 2009 (Rep. Pastor – Natural Resources)

4)   H.R. 3538 – Idaho Wilderness Water Resources Protection Act (Rep. Simpson – Natural Resources)

5)   H.Res. 1007 – Commending the University of Alabama for winning the Bowl Championship Series National Championship Game (Rep. Bachus – Education and Labor)

6)   H.Res. 1004 – Congratulating the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine for its 150 years of commitment to advancing science and improving health (Rep. Davis (IL) – Education and Labor)

7)   H.Res. 776 – Congratulating the Dartmouth Outing Club of Hanover, New Hampshire, for 100 years of service to the United States and its wilderness (Rep. Hodes – Education and Labor)

8)   H.Res. 1008 – Honoring the contributions of Catholic schools (Rep. Lipinski – Education and Labor)

9)   H.Res. __ – Congratulating the Penn State women?s volleyball team on winning the 2009 NCAA Division I national championship (Rep. Thompson (PA) – Education and Labor)

10)  H.Res. 991 – Commending the University of Virginia men’s soccer team for winning the 2009 Division I NCAA National Championship (Rep. Perriello – Education and Labor)

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20, 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 (11 Bills)

1)   H.R. __ – To accelerate the income tax benefits for charitable cash contributions for the relief of victims of the earthquake in Haiti (Rep. Rangel – Ways and Means)

2)   H.R. 3250 – To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1210 West Main Street in Riverhead, New York, as the “Private First Class Garfield M. Langhorn Post Office Building” (Rep. Bishop (NY) – Oversight and Government Reform)

3)   H.Con.Res. 158 – Expressing support for the designation of an Early Detection Month for breast cancer and all forms of cancer (Rep. Etheridge – Oversight and Government Reform)

4)   H.Res. 708 – Congratulating Nancy Goodman Brinker for receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom (Rep. Schock – Oversight and Government Reform)

5)   H.R. 4095 – To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 9727 Antioch Road in Overland Park, Kansas, as the “Congresswoman Jan Meyers Post Office Building” (Rep. Moore (KS) – Oversight and Government Reform)

6)   H.Res. __ – Expressing Condolences to and Solidarity with the People of Haiti in the aftermath of the devastating Earthquake of January 12th, 2010 (Rep. Lee (CA) – Foreign Affairs)

7)   H.Res. 1013 – Condemning the violent suppression of legitimate political dissent and gross human rights abuses in the Republic of Guinea (Rep. Ros-Lehtinen – Foreign Affairs)

8)   H.Res. 1010 – Celebrating the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the 30th anniversary of the Stevie Wonder song tribute to Dr. King, “Happy Birthday” (Rep. Conyers – Judiciary)

9)   H.Res. 1009 – Honoring the seven Americans killed in Khost, Afghanistan, on December 30, 2009, for their service to the United States (Rep. Reyes – Intelligence)

10)  H.R. 2611 – To amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to authorize the Securing the Cities Initiative of the Department of Homeland Security (Rep. King (NY) – Homeland Security)

11)  Senate Amendments to H.R. 730 ? Nuclear Forensics and Attribution Act (Rep. Schiff – Homeland Security)

H.R. 1065 ? White Mountain Apache Tribe Water Rights Quantification Act of 2009 (Rep. Kirkpatrick ? Natural Resources) (Subject to a Rule)

H.R. 3254 ? Taos Pueblo Indian Water Rights Settlement Act (Rep. Luján ? Natural Resources) (Subject to a Rule)

H.R. 3342 ? Aamodt Litigation Settlement Act (Rep. Luján ? Natural Resources) (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.

And here’s what we know so far about the Senate’s schedule for the week:

Jan. 20 – Convenes: 10:00 AM

Morning business for one hour with the time equally divided and controlled between the two Leaders, or their designees, with Senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each.

Following morning business, the Senate will proceed to Executive Session to consider the nomination of Beverly Baldwin Martin, of Georgia, to be a U.S. Circuit Judge for the 11th Circuit. The roll call vote on the confirmation of this nomination will occur prior to the caucus lunches on Wednesday, January 20th. This will be the first roll call vote of the Second Session of the 111th Congress.

The Senate will recess from 12:30pm until 2:15pm for the weekly party conference lunches.

Further, under a previous order, on Wednesday, January 20 at a time to be determined by the Majority Leader, following consultation with the Republican Leader, the Senate will proceed to the consideration of H.J.Res. 45, Increasing the statutory limit on the public debt. Immediately after the Joint Resolution is reported, the Majority Leader or his designee will be recognized to offer a substitute amendment. The following are the only other amendments in order to the joint resolution:

- Thune (TARP)
- Murkowski (Endangerment EPA regulations)
- Coburn (Rescissions package)
- Sessions (spending caps)
- McConnell (relevant to any amendment on the list)
- Reid (relevant to any amendment on the list)
-Reid (paygo)
- Up to 3 Baucus amendments (relevant to any amendment on the list)
- Conrad and Gregg (fiscal task force)

Each amendment on this list is subject to a 60 vote threshold. If the amendment does not reach 60 votes, the amendment will be withdrawn. Upon disposition of all amendments, the substitute amendment, as amended, if amended, will be agreed to. The Senate will then proceed to vote on passage of joint resolution. Passage is also subject to an affirmative 60 vote threshold.

Some more background information on those Senate amendments can be found at this previous post.

See Congress Matters for the fulll Senate and House committee schedules for the week.

Full post as published by Open Congress on January 19, 2010 (boomark / email).