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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. Following Morning Business, the Senate will resume consideration of the conference report to accompany H.R.2647, Department of Defense Authorization. A cloture vote is expected around 11:45 a.m.
SENATE COMMITTEES:
Senate Armed Services (9:30 a.m.): Hearings to examine the nominations of Christine H. Fox, of Virginia, to be Director of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation, Frank Kendall III, of Virginia, to be Deputy Under Secretary for Acquisition and Technology, Gladys Commons, of Virginia, to be Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and Terry A. Yonkers, of Maryland, to be Assistant Secretary of the Air Force, all of the Department of Defense. SH-216 .
Senate Foreign Relations (10 a.m.): Hearings to examine the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), focusing on a strategic concept for transatlantic security. SD-419.
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (10 a.m.): Hearings to examine the past, present, and future of policy czars. SD-342.
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (10 a.m.): Hearings to examine keeping America's families safe, focusing on reforming the food safety system. SD-430 .
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.1340, to establish a minimum funding level for programs under the Victims of Crime Act of 1984 for fiscal years 2010 to 2014 that ensures a reasonable growth in victim programs without jeopardizing the long-term sustainability of the Crime Victims Fund, and S.714, to establish the National Criminal Justice Commission, and the nominations of Barbara Milano Keenan, of Virginia, to be United States Circuit Judge for the Fourth Circuit, and Laurie O. Robinson, of the District of Columbia, to be an Assistant Attorney General, and Benjamin B. Wagner, to be United States Attorney for the Eastern District of California, both of the Department of Justice. SD-226.
Joint Economic (10 a.m.): Full Committee. On evaluating the short- and longer-term macroeconomic outlook and provide insights into how the stimulus has affected economic recovery and job creation. Christina Romer, Chairwoman, Council of Economic Advisers. CHOB-210 .
Senate Indian Affairs (2:15 p.m.): Business meeting to consider pending calendar business; to be immediately followed by an oversight hearing to examine Indian energy and energy efficiency. SD-628 .
Senate (Select) Intelligence (2:30 p.m.): Closed hearings to consider certain intelligence matters. S-407 .
Senate Foreign Relations (3 p.m.): To receive a briefing to examine Iran. SVC-217
THE HOUSE:
The House meets at 10:00 a.m. and will begin consideration of H.R. 3619, the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010. The floor will also debate H.R. 3585, the Solar Technology Roadmap Act of 2010. First votes are predicted to fall between 10:30 and 11:30.
HOUSE COMMITTEES:
House Veterans Affairs (10 a.m.): Health Subc. Markup of pending legislation. 334 CHOB..
House (Select) Energy Independence and Global Warming (9:30 a.m.): Full Committee. On building U.S. resilience to global warming impacts. Dept. and public witnesses. 2175 RHOB..
House Science and Technology (10 a.m.): Space and Aeronautics Subc. On strengthening NASA's technology development programs. Dept. and public witnesses. 2318 RHOB..
House Judiciary (11 a.m.): Commercial and Administrative Law Subc. On the role for bankruptcy and antitrust law in financial regulation reform. Dept. and public witnesses. 2141 RHOB..
House Foreign Affairs (10 a.m.): International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight Subc. On concerns regarding possible collusion in Northern Ireland. Public witnesses. 2172 RHOB..
House Energy and Commerce (10 a.m.): Communications, Technology, and the Internet Subc. On video competition in a digital age. 2123 RHOB..
House Armed Services (10:30 a.m.): Terrorism, Unconventional Threats, and Capabilities Subc. On counterterrorism within the Afghanistan counterinsurgency. Public witnesses. HVC-210 Capitol..
Joint Economic (10 a.m.): Full Committee. On evaluating the short- and longer-term macroeconomic outlook and provide insights into how the stimulus has affected economic recovery and job creation. Christina Romer, Chairwoman, Council of Economic Advisers. CHOB-210 .
House Agriculture (10 a.m.): Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry Subc. On reviewing the economic conditions facing the pork industry. Dept. and public witnesses. 1300 LHOB..
House Armed Services (2 p.m.): Oversight and Investigations Subc. On perspectives for U.S. strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan. Dept. and public witnesses. HVC-210 Capitol..
House Financial Services: Full Committee. Markup of continued financial regulatory reform legislation. 2128 RHOB..
House Homeland Security (10 a.m.): Border, Maritime, and Global Counterterrorism Subc. On the Department of Homeland Security's efforts to identify, interdict and investigate cargo security threats at land border ports of entry. Dept. witnesses. 311 CHOB..
House Science and Technology (10 a.m.): Research and Science Education Subc. On engineering in K-12 education. Public witnesses. 2325 RHOB..
House Science and Technology (2 p.m.): Technology and Innovation Subc. On cybersecurity activities at the National Institute of Standards and Technology's information technology laboratory. Public witnesses. 2318 RHOB..
House (Select) Intelligence (10 a.m.): Intelligence Community Management Subc. On the statutory requirements for congressional notifications of intelligence activities. Public witnesses. 340 CHOB..
House Ways and Means (10 a.m.): Oversight Subc. On administration of the first-time homebuyer tax credit. Dept. witnesses. 1100 LHOB.. |
House Leaders Confident on Health Care Vote:
House Democratic leaders sounded bullish Wednesday after launching an all-hands-on-deck effort to win support for a "robust" public insurance option in their health care bill.
"We think we have the votes now," Democratic Caucus Chairman John Larson (Conn.) told reporters. "We have the votes to pass a robust public option."
Larson cautioned that the details were still being worked out, and Democratic aides said Members were still being whipped at press time and did not release a tally.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has asked her Members to line up behind the Medicare-based plan, rather than one that negotiates rates with providers, because it saves the most money, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
"The Members understand the choices that we have to make," Pelosi said. "If you have one option that saves $110 billion and another that saves $25 billion, how do you make up the sum of that difference?"
Leaders also have worked to tweak the proposal to appeal to Members concerned about regional disparities in part by providing an extra $8 billion in funding for states with high-quality health care outcomes and low costs, Members said, while leaders were touting a score under $900 billion from the CBO for the insurance portion of the bill.
But even with leaders increasingly confident that they have the votes to pass such a plan, they acknowledged there is still plenty of work to do on other controversial parts of the bill, and a number of Members continue to express concern about the bill's long-term costs.
"We were surveying Members on one aspect of the bill," one Democratic leadership aide noted. "We still have many steps ahead."
House Democrats hope to nail down support for the public option this week, negotiate the remaining details next week and put the bill on the floor as early as the first week in November. Pelosi reiterated that she hopes a bill is sent to President Barack Obama's desk by Thanksgiving.
Rep. Jason Altmire (D-Pa.) said he is one of a number of Members who don't oppose the public option but will still oppose the bill unless other changes are made.
"I don't have a problem with the public option, but I have a big problem with the bill," Altmire said.
Altmire said he opposes the bill's tax increase on the wealthy and mandates on small businesses.
Other Members, such as Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-N.D.), remain hard "no" votes over tying the public option to Medicare rates, which in his state are among the lowest in the country. Pomeroy said the issue reminds him of the vote on an ill-fated British thermal unit energy tax he faced as a freshman Member of Congress in President Bill Clinton's first term.
"I don't see any way that a robust public option survives conference committee," Pomeroy said. He added that increasing the eligibility for Medicaid would have saved a similar amount of money and would have won his support.
Rep. Jim Matheson (D-Utah), co-chairman of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition, said the proposal for a robust public option tied to Medicare rates was causing "a lot of concern," and said he wasn't sure where leadership would find the votes. Matheson said that just 12 of the 52 Blue Dogs in the past had committed to supporting such a plan.
Matheson also took issue with Pelosi's contention that the robust plan saves the most money.
"It's a false choice to say that the only cost issue we can talk about is the [shape] of the public option," Matheson said. He said subsidies for buying insurance could be trimmed instead.
And he said Members wanted to see a detailed CBO analysis before committing one way or the other. "We keep hearing rumors. Let's see it," he said.
"We really have no details," complained Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), another Blue Dog. Cooper, who supports some versions of the public option, said he wants to expand the pool of Americans allowed to choose it. Under the existing bills, only about 10 percent of Americans would be included in the health insurance exchange - largely people who do not have insurance now.
"That's a pretty small group," Cooper said. "We should be talking about a robust exchange at the same time we're talking about a robust public option."
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KTC |
Inouye Becomes Third Longest Serving Senator: 
Today, after serving nearly 47 years in the Senate, Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) becomes the third-longest-serving Senator in U.S. history, passing Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), who died in August.
"I'm not celebrating that day because I'm too busy to do that," Inouye said. "I think it's an achievement, to think that I've lasted that long."
In addition to this milestone, Inouye, 85, a former House Member, will also be the fifth-longest-serving Member of Congress in history, passing Rep. Carl Vinson (D-Ga.), who served from 1914 to 1965 and chaired the Armed Services Committee.
Inouye, chairman of the Appropriations Committee, and Kennedy were both elected to the Senate in November 1962, although Kennedy got a jump in seniority because he won a special election to fill the remainder of the term won by his brother, President John F. Kennedy.
Only West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd (D), the longest-serving Senator in history, and Sen. Strom Thurmond (R), who represented South Carolina from 1954 to 1956, when he temporarily resigned, and again from 1956 to 2003, have served longer in the Senate than Inouye.
Inouye is up for re-election in 2010 and is a shoo-in to win a ninth term.
Inouye's Congressional service dates to Aug. 21, 1959, when he entered the House as Hawaii became the 50th state. He served in the House for three years, then won election in 1962 to succeed retiring Sen. Oren Long (D).
One of the most memorable events of his tenure was serving on the Senate Watergate Committee from 1973 to 1974, Inouye said. He turned down an offer to be on the committee five times because he was worried about what it would mean for his re-election campaign, he said, but eventually then-Majority Leader Michael Mansfield (D-Mont.) all but forced him to join.
Inouye recalled with a chuckle that Mansfield said: "No. 1, whoever serves on the committee has to be a lawyer. That cuts down the number. No. 2 ... anyone who has aspired for the presidency is not qualified, and that leaves you."
Inouye admitted that he was surprised when the committee became a national news sensation. One major benefit of the televised hearings for Inouye was the rise in his popularity. During the hearings, the Senator got a phone call from George Gallup of the Gallup Organization confirming his high profile.
"He says, 'This may seem unbelievable, but the best-known person in Washington is the president, according to our polls, and next is you,'" Inouye said. "I said, 'That can't be!' And he said, 'Oh yes, because you're the only non-Caucasian on the panel, so whether you like it or not, you stand out.'"
To this day, Inouye said, people come up to him and say they weren't doing their homework in high school and college in order to watch the Watergate hearings.
Although Inouye has spent decades in Congress, he still has a long way to go before he moves up to longest-serving Member ahead of Carl Hayden (D), who represented Arizona in the House from 1912 to 1927 and the Senate from 1927 to 1969. Even so, second-place Byrd is poised to surpass Hayden next month and set the longevity record.
Rep. John Dingell (D), who has represented Michigan for nearly 54 years, is in third place in Congressional service, and Jamie Whitten (D) of Mississippi, who served in the House from 1941 to 1995, is in fourth - though Inouye would pass him if he is re-elected next year and serves through October 2012, when he will be 88.
KTC |
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Hatch Urges Obama to Investigate College Football's BCS: 
A senator whose undefeated home state school was bypassed for the college football national championship last season urged President Barack Obama on Wednesday to ask the Justice Department to investigate the Bowl Championship Series, citing Obama's own concerns about the way the top team is crowned in building a case for action.
"Mr. President, as you have publicly stated on multiple occasions, the BCS system is in dire need of reform," Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said in a 10-page letter to Obama calling for an antitrust probe of the BCS. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the letter.
Shortly after his election last year, Obama said he was going to "to throw my weight around a little bit" to nudge college football toward a playoff system.
Obama and Hatch are among the many critics of how the BCS - a complex system of computer rankings and polls that often draws criticism - determines its national champion.
Hatch, who held a hearing on the BCS in July, told Obama that a "strong case" can be made that the BCS violates antitrust laws.
Under the BCS system, some athletic conferences get automatic bids to participate in top-tier bowl games while others don't, and the automatic bid conferences also get far more of the revenue. Hatch's home state school, the University of Utah, is from the Mountain West Conference, which does not get an automatic bid. The school qualified for a bid last season but was bypassed for the national championship despite going undefeated.
The system "has been designed to limit the number of teams from non-privileged conferences that will play in BCS games," Hatch wrote.
Hatch said the BCS arrangement likely violates the Sherman Antitrust Act because, he argued, it constitutes a "contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce," quoting from the law.
He said the system "artificially limits the number of nationally-relevant bowl games to five. The result is reduced access to revenues and visibility which creates disadvantages to schools in the non-privileged conferences."
Hatch is the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary's subcommittee on antitrust, competition policy and consumer rights.
The senator said the hundreds of millions of dollars generated by college football "are hardly trivial sums," given that many schools use such revenue to fund things like other athletic programs.
The Justice Department said it would review the letter and respond as appropriate. The White House declined to comment.
The chairman of the BCS Presidential Oversight Committee, Harvey Perlman, said, "Like a majority of presidents, commissioners, athletics directors and coaches, we stand behind the BCS as the best way to identify a national champion."
Perlman, who is chancellor of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, noted that 120 schools compete through the season for the opportunity to play in four major bowls and the national championship game.
"No effort should be made to take away some of the best traditions of college football, which include the bowl games," he said. "Most importantly, our attorneys have done exhaustive reviews over the years, and we are confident that the BCS is in full compliance with the laws of the nation."
Alan G. Fishel, an attorney for the Mountain West Conference and Boise State University, backed Hatch's effort.
"If the government can look at the concentration of money in railroads, telecommunications and software developers, then why not the big business of college sports in America?" he said.
Hatch's letter comes a few days after the BCS released its first standings of the year. And on Monday, a group of college football fans launched the Playoff PAC, with the hope of electing more lawmakers who will pressure the BCS to switch to a playoff system.
Several lawmakers have introduced bills this year aimed at forcing a playoff system, but none of the bills has advanced.
KTC |
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Until tomorrow,
Keys To The Capitol |
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