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Greetings!
Please enjoy today's issue of the Congressional Climate newsletter, brought to you by Keys to the Capitol! |
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Today's Hill Action:
THE SENATE:
The Senate convenes at 9:30 a.m. ET and will resume consideration of H.R.2996, Interior appropriations, following an hour of morning business.
SENATE COMMITTEES:
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (2:30 p.m.): Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia. Hearings to examine a review of United States diplomatic readiness, focusing on the staffing and foreign language challenges facing the foreign service. Joint Economic (10 a.m.): Hearings to examine the future of newspapers, focusing on the impact on the economy and democracy.
Senate Armed Services (10 a.m.): Hearings to examine the President's decision on missile defense in Europe.
Senate Finance (noon): Business meeting to continue consideration of an original bill entitled "America's Healthy Future Act of 2009". Joint Economic (10 a.m.): Full Committee. On contraction in the newspaper industry focusing on the economic impact of the changing media landscape and the future of the industry at large. Public witnesses.
Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs (9:30 a.m.): Hearings to examine the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, focusing on one year later.
Senate Judiciary (10 a.m.): Business meeting to consider S.448 and H.R.985, bills to maintain the free flow of information to the public by providing conditions for the federally compelled disclosure of information by certain persons connected with the news media, S.1692, to extend the sunset of certain provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act and the authority to issue national security letters, S.369, to prohibit brand name drug companies from compensating generic drug companies to delay the entry of a generic drug into the market, S.1670, to reform and modernize the limitations on exclusive rights relating to secondary transmissions of certain signals, and the nominations of Paul Joseph Fishman, to be United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey, Jenny A. Durkan, to be United States Attorney for the Western District of Washington, Florence T. Nakakuni, to be United States Attorney for the District of Hawaii, Deborah K. R. Gilg, to be United States Attorney for the District of Nebraska, and Ignacia S. Moreno, of New York, to be Assistant Attorney General, all of the Department of Justice, and Joseph A. Greenaway, Jr., of New Jersey, to be United States Circuit Judge for the Third Circuit, Roberto A. Lange, to be United States District Judge for the District of South Dakota, Irene Cornelia Berger, to be United States District Judge for the Southern District of West Virginia, and Charlene Edwards Honeywell, to be United States District Judge for the Middle District of Florida.
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (10:30 a.m.): Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security. Hearings to examine the government, focusing on performance.
Senate (Select) Intelligence (2:30 p.m.): Closed business meeting to consider pending intelligence matters THE HOUSE:
The House meets at 10:30 a.m. Final votes are expected between 2:00 and 3:00 p.m.
HOUSE COMMITTEES:
Joint Economic (10 a.m.): Hearings to examine the future of newspapers, focusing on the impact on the economy and democracy.
House Veterans Affairs (10 a.m.): Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs Subc. On the current Veterans Affairs Burial Benefits Program, national cemetery policy and ways that the Department of Veteran's Affairs can better serve veterans and their survivors. Dept. and public witnesses.
House Small Business (12:30 p.m.): Contracting and Technology Subc. On the roles of federal labs in spurring innovation and entrepreneurship across America.
House (Select) Energy Independence and Global Warming (1:30 p.m.): Full Committee. On examining current issues in solar energy development. Public witnesses
House Science and Technology (10 a.m.): Technology and Innovation Subc. On the need for measurement standards to facilitate the research and development of biologic drugs. Public witnesses.
House Oversight and Government Reform (10 a.m.): Full Committee. On the credit rating agencies and the next financial crisis and markup of pending legislation.
Joint Economic (10 a.m.): Full Committee. On contraction in the newspaper industry focusing on the economic impact of the changing media landscape and the future of the industry at large. Public witnesses.
House Homeland Security (10 a.m.): Intelligence, Information Sharing, and Terrorism Risk Assessment Subc. On efforts to focus the intelligence and information-sharing missions at the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Intelligence and Analysis. Bart Johnson, Acting Under Secretary, Office of Intelligence and Analysis, Department of Homeland Security.
House Financial Services (2:30 p.m.): Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored Enterprises Subc. On innovations in securitization, specifically those related to life insurance settlements. Public witnesses.
House Financial Services (9 a.m.): Full Committee. On experts' perspectives on systemic risk and resolution issues. Public witnesses.
House Energy and Commerce (10 a.m.): Communications, Technology, and the Internet Subc. On a national interoperable broadband network for public safety.
House Armed Services (9:30 a.m.): Defense Acquisition Reform Panel Subc. On the Department of Defense supply chain management. Dept. and public witnesses
House Transportation and Infrastructure (11 a.m.): Full Committee. Markup of pending legislation.
House Veterans' Affairs (1 p.m.): Economic Opportunity Subc. On pending legislation. MC's and public witnesses. |
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Massachusetts names Kirk to fill Kennedy's Seat: 
Paul Kirk, a former Democratic National Committee chairman and a close friend of the late Senator Edward Kennedy, was named on Thursday as a temporary replacement for the liberal champion in the U.S. Senate.
Kirk, an attorney backed for the post by Kennedy's wife Victoria and his two sons, will fill the seat until voters in Massachusetts elect a permanent replacement in January.
The appointment of Kirk, who said he would not run in the special election, will restore a 60-seat Senate majority for the Democrats that could help President Barack Obama's push to overhaul healthcare.
Obama called Kirk "an excellent interim choice" to take over from Kennedy and give his state its full representation in the Senate as healthcare, financial reform and energy issues are debated in the coming months.
Republicans in the overwhelmingly Democratic state sought an injunction to stall the appointment, saying legislation just passed to allow the move should not take effect for another 90 days. A judge in Boston will hear the request on Friday.
Lawmakers in Massachusetts passed legislation in the past few days allowing Governor Deval Patrick to name an interim senator, something Kennedy pushed for before he died in August from cancer so his party would not lose a key vote during the healthcare debate.
"The issues before the Congress and the nation are too important for us to be one voice short," Patrick told reporters as he appointed Kirk after signing the legislation.
Kirk was Kennedy's special assistant in the 1970s and remains close to his family.
Kennedy was a towering figure in the U.S. Senate for nearly half a century and made healthcare reform his signature issue as he carried on his storied family's political legacy.
Without an interim replacement, his seat would have lain vacant until a January 19 special election of a permanent senator to serve through 2012.
Kirk, 71, who served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1985 until 1989, was seen as a natural candidate to take over the Senate seat. An eloquent speaker who was master of ceremonies at a memorial service for Kennedy last month, he has in-depth knowledge of Washington politics and backs Obama's plans to overhaul the ailing $2.5 trillion healthcare system.
Kirk called the interim Senate appointment a "profound honor" and the Kennedy family said "nothing could be more fitting" than for him to fill Edward Kennedy's seat.
As a lawyer in the late 1990s, Kirk briefly lobbied for the pharmaceutical industry, notably for life sciences company Aventis, now Sanofi-Aventis, local media reported.
The change to state law to let an interim senator be named angered Republicans and some Democrats. They saw it as a hypocritical reversal of a law state Democrats passed in 2004 to prevent a Republican governor from naming a replacement for Democratic Senator John Kerry if he had won that year's presidential election.
Flanking Kirk as he was appointed, Kerry said he would be a "superb steward" in the caretaker Senate position.
KTC
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U.S. Senate Approves Compromise Bill on Pakistan Aid: 
The U.S. Senate on Thursday approved compromise legislation to triple non-military aid to Pakistan to about $1.5 billion a year for each of the next five years as part of a plan to fight extremism with economic development.
The bill, approved on a voice vote, had been agreed upon between the Senate and House sponsors of legislation passed separately by each chamber earlier this year. The sponsors are Senators John Kerry and Richard Lugar and Representative Howard Berman.
The measure also had the "full support" of key members of the Obama administration, Senate aides said. It was expected to come before the House of Representatives soon.
The aid, which will have to be approved by congressional appropriators each year from 2010 to 2014, is aimed at a wide range of development efforts, from funding Pakistani schools to the judicial system and law enforcement agencies.
While not stipulating any dollar amounts of military aid, the legislation sets out conditions for the assistance. They include Pakistan's cooperation with dismantling nuclear supplier networks and with combating terrorist groups, a Senate summary of the bill said.
Another condition is to require that the security forces of Pakistan do not subvert judicial processes, the summary said.
The aim of the legislation is to promote stability in a the country.
KTC
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House Passes Short Term FAA Extension:
The House of Representatives on Sept. 23 passed a temporary funding extension for the FAA through the end of the calendar year.
The FAA has recently been operating under a series of short-term authorizations, the latest of which expires Sept. 30. The House bill to extend the authorization again through Dec. 31 passed by voice vote; the Senate is expected to pass the authorization before the end of September.
These short-term extensions keep the FAA operating while Congress lays out a longer-term plan for the agency. The House passed a three-year reauthorization of the FAA in May, and the Senate version, which authorizes the agency for two years, has yet to reach the Senate floor.
KTC |
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Until tomorrow,
Keys To The Capitol |
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