Congressional_Climate_logo
KTC Logo
Click on Logo to Visit Our Website 
Table of Contents
TODAY'S HILL ACTION
PELOSI MAY BE FLEXIBLE ON PUBLIC OPTION
JOURNALIST SOURCES MAY BE PROTECTED
JOBS BILL POSSIBLE NEXT WEEK
Congressional
Climate Bill Tracking 
Keyhole Image H.R.3607 - FAA FY10 Extension Act
Keyhole Image S. 1451 - FAA Reauthorization Bill
Keyhole Image H.R. 2454 - American Clean Energy & Security Act
Keyhole Image S.1 - Stimulus Bill
Keyhole ImageH.R. 3200 - America's Affordable Health Choices Act
Keyhole Image S.560 - Employee Free Choice Act
Keyhole Image H.R.3288 - Department of Transportation Appropriations
Keyhole Image H.R.3126 - Consumer Financial Protection
Join Our Mailing List
Follow KTC on Twitter 
Greetings!
 
Please enjoy today's issue of the Congressional Climate newsletter, brought to you by Keys to the Capitol!
Today's Hill Action: 
 
THE SENATE:
 
 
The Senate convenes at 10:00 a.m. ET and will resume consideration of H.R.3590, health-care reform legislation.
 
 
SENATE COMMITTEES:
 
 
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (2:30 p.m.): Subcommittee on Disaster Recovery: Hearings to examine children and disasters, focusing on a progress report on addressing needs.
 
Senate Judiciary (10 a.m.): Business meeting to consider S.448, 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.714, to establish the National Criminal Justice Commission, S.1624, to amend title 11 of the United States Code, to provide protection for medical debt homeowners, to restore bankruptcy protections for individuals experiencing economic distress as caregivers to ill, injured, or disabled family members, and to exempt from means testing debtors whose financial problems were caused by serious medical problems, S.1765, to amend the Hate Crime Statistics Act to include crimes against the homeless, S.678, to reauthorize and improve the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974, S.1554, to amend the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 to prevent later delinquency and improve the health and well-being of maltreated infants and toddlers through the development of local Court Teams for Maltreated Infants and Toddlers and the creation of a National Court Teams Resource Center to assist such Court Teams, S.1789, to restore fairness to Federal cocaine sentencing, and the nominations of Rosanna Malouf Peterson, to be United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Washington, William M. Conley, to be United States District Judge for the Western District of Wisconsin, Denny Chin, of New York, to be United States Circuit Judge for the Second Circuit, Paul R. Verkuil, of Florida, to be Chairman of the Administrative Conference of the United States, and John Gibbons, to be United States Marshal for the District of Massachusetts, Richard G. Callahan, to be United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, and John Leroy Kammerzell, to be United States Marshal for the District of Colorado, all of the Department of Justice.
 
Senate Foreign Relations (10 a.m.): Hearings to examine Treaty Between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Concerning Defense Trade Cooperation, done at Washington and London on June 21 and 26, 2007 (Treaty Doc.110-07), and Treaty Between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of Australia Concerning Defense Trade Cooperation, done at Sydney, September 5, 2007 (Treaty Doc.110-10).
 
Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation (10 a.m.): Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security. An oversight hearing to examine aviation safety, focusing on Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) safety initiatives.
 
Senate Environment and Public Works (9:30 a.m.): Business meeting to consider S.373, to amend title 18, United States Code, to include constrictor snakes of the species Python genera as an injurious animal, S.1214, to conserve fish and aquatic communities in the United States through partnerships that foster fish habitat conservation, to improve the quality of life for the people of the United States, S.1421, to amend section 42 of title 18, United States Code, to prohibit the importation and shipment of certain species of carp, S.1519, to provide for the eradication and control of nutria in Maryland, Louisiana, and other coastal States, S.1965, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to provide financial assistance to the State of Louisiana for a pilot program to develop measures to eradicate or control feral swine and to assess and restore wetlands damaged by feral swine, H.R.509, to reauthorize the Marine Turtle Conservation Act of 2004, H.R.2188, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior, through the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, to conduct a Joint Venture Program to protect, restore, enhance, and manage migratory bird populations, their habitats, and the ecosystems they rely on, through voluntary actions on public and private lands, H.R.3433, to amend the North American Wetlands Conservation Act to establish requirements regarding payment of the non-Federal share of the costs of wetlands conservation projects in Canada that are funded under that Act, H.R.3537, to amend and reauthorize the Junior Duck Stamp Conservation and Design Program Act of 1994, S.1397, to authorize the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to award grants for electronic device recycling research, development, and demonstration projects, S.1660, to amend the Toxic Substances Control Act to reduce the emissions of formaldehyde from composite wood products, a proposed resolution relating to Army Corps study for Espanola Valley, and a proposed resolution relating to the General Services Administration.
 
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (noon): Business meeting to consider the nominations of Jacqueline A. Berrien, of New York, Victoria A. Lipnic, of Virginia, Chai Rachel Feldblum, of Maryland, all to be a Member of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, P. David Lopez, of Arizona, to be General Counsel of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Patrick Alfred Corvington, of Maryland, to be Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation for National and Community Service, Adele Logan Alexander, of the District of Columbia, to be a Member of the National Council on the Humanities, Lynnae M. Ruttledge, of Washington, to be Commissioner of the Rehabilitation Services Administration, Department of Education, and Sara Manzano-Diaz, of Pennsylvania, to be Director of the Women's Bureau, Department of Labor.
 
Joint Economic (10 a.m.): Full Committee. On the challenge of creating jobs in the aftermath of the recession. Public witnesses.
 
Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs (9:30 a.m.): Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation and Community Development. Hearings to examine the Federal role in overseeing the safety of public transportation systems.
 
Senate Budget (10 a.m.): Hearings to examine data-driven performance, focusing on using technology to deliver results.
 
Senate Energy and Natural Resources (10 a.m.): Hearings to examine the role of grid-scale energy storage in meeting our energy and climate goals.
 
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (10 a.m.): Hearings to examine the nominations of Grayling Grant Williams, of Maryland, to be Director of the Office of Counternarcotics Enforcement, and Elizabeth M. Harman, of Maryland, to be an Assistant Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, both of the Department of Homeland Security.
 
Joint Economic (10 a.m.): Hearings to examine the challenge of creating jobs in the aftermath of the recession.
 
Senate (Select) Intelligence (2:30 p.m.): Closed hearings to consider certain intelligence matters. 

 

THE HOUSE:
 
 
The House meets at 10:00 a.m. ET for legislative business and will continue consideration of H.R. 4173, the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009.
 

HOUSE COMMITTEES:
 
 
House Science and Technology (10 a.m.): Full Committee. On the future direction and funding for NASA and the effect it will have on aerospace workforce and the industrial base. Public witnesses.
 
House Appropriations (10 a.m.): Interior and Environment Subc. On oversight of the Smithsonian Institution. Dept. witnesses.
 
House Armed Services (10 a.m.): Readiness Subc., Air and Land Forces Subc., and Seapower and Expeditionary Forces Subc. Joint hrng. on the status of Army and Marine Corps reset requirements. Dept. witnesses.
 
House Energy and Commerce (9:30 a.m.): Energy and Environment Subc. On drinking water and the public health impacts of coal combustion waste disposal.
 
House Foreign Affairs (9:30 a.m.): Full Committee. On U.S strategy in Afghanistan. Karl Eikenberry, Ambassador to Afghanistan; Gen. Stanley McChrystal, Commander, International Security Assistance Force, and U.S. Forces Afghanistan.
 
House Homeland Security (10 a.m.): Border, Maritime, and Global Counterterrorism Subc. On the Department of Homeland Security's immigration detention system and proposed changes to the system. Dept. and public witnesses.
 
Joint Economic (10 a.m.): Full Committee. On the challenge of creating jobs in the aftermath of the recession. Public witnesses.
 
House Judiciary (10 a.m.): Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security Subc. On H.R. 1924 - Tribal Law and Order Act. MC's and public witnesses
 
House Judiciary (10:30 a.m.): Task Force on Judicial Impeachment. On considering the possible impeachment of U.S. District Judge G. Thomas Porteous, Jr.
 
House Judiciary (1 p.m.): Courts and Competition Policy Subc. On examining the state of judicial recusals after the case Caperton v. A.T. Massey where Justice Brent Benjamin of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia refused to recuse himself in a case where the defendant was one of the major contributors of the justice's election campaign.
 
House Oversight and Government Reform (10 a.m.): Full Committee. Markup of pending legislation.
 
House Transportation and Infrastructure (10 a.m.): Full Committee. On oversight of stimulus spending on transportation and infrastructure programs.
Pelosi Shows Possible Flexibility on Health Care's "Public Option":
  
Pelosi Health Care 
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), long the most powerful advocate for a public insurance option in a sweeping health care overhaul, on Thursday signaled she could live without one in a final package.
 
Senate Democrats are considering a compromise measure that drops the plan in favor of expanding eligibility for Medicare and Medicaid and setting up a national health care plan similar to the one for federal employees.
 
Pelosi said she is reserving judgment on that proposal until she sees its details. But she indicated there would be broad support among House Democrats for lowering the eligibility age for Medicare from 65 to 55. And while she said the public option "is the best way to hold insurance companies honest, to keep them honest, and also to increase competition," she also repeated her oft-stated willingness to entertain another proposal that would achieve the same ends.
 
"Give the Senate room. Let's see what it is," she said.
 
The Speaker said she is confident the two chambers can resolve differences between their health care reform bills - including an explosive debate over how strictly to limit access to abortions. "There's never been any question that there would be no federal funding. That's the law," she said. "It's just a question of finding the language."
 
But she threw cold water on the notion of skipping a formal conference committee. Given that, it appears unlikely the two chambers could wrap up work on the package this year. Pelosi nevertheless left open the possibility of bringing lawmakers back before New Year's if the chambers find agreement. "I think we would do almost anything if it meant we would pass health care for all Americans over the Christmas holidays," she said.
 
Meanwhile, Pelosi said her chamber is on schedule to wrap the rest of its work for the year by Dec. 16, which would allow her to travel to Copenhagen for the international climate change summit.



KTC
Senate Bill Protecting Journalists Sources Gains Ground: 
Senate Logo
 
A bill to protect reporters' confidential sources in federal court cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, ending months of stalemate.
 
The panel sent the so-called media shield bill to the full Senate on a 14-5 vote, but it's not certain it will become law this year. Even if the Senate acts, the legislation would have to be reconciled with a different version approved earlier by the House.
 
The bill does not give journalists absolute authority to protect sources. Those rights can be overridden in national security cases.
 
The legislation has broad support from journalism organizations and is a compromise worked out by senators, the intelligence community and the Obama administration.
 
Conservative Republicans and some in the intelligence community believe it can harm attempts to track down leakers of classified national security information.
 
The bill uses a broad definition of journalists by including bloggers, citizen journalists and freelancers. It also relies on court tests to determine whether sources deserve protection.
 
With the exception of national security cases, the bill establishes a balancing test to determine whether a reporter must reveal their source. A federal judge would weigh the public's right to know versus national security claims made by the government.
 
The balancing test would be eliminated in cases where classified information is leaked. However, the government would have to demonstrate that a source's identity is necessary to prevent, or lessen the impact, of a terrorist act or prevent substantial harm to national security.
 
The government would have to provide specific facts to show possible harm. It could not make a national security claim and then withhold most of the details.
 
When the balancing test is used in criminal cases, the journalist would have to show that guarding the anonymity of sources is in the public interest.
 
In non-criminal cases, the government would have to demonstrate that compelling disclosure of a confidential source outweighs the public interest in newsgathering. There also is an exception to the protection if prosecutors can convince a judge that disclosure would stop an imminent sexual crime against a child.
 
Protections in the bill apply not only to information held directly by reporters, but also to reporter information such as phone and e-mail records held by third-party service providers.
 
Nearly all states have either their own media shield laws or court cases establishing the protection

KTC
Jobs Bill Likely Next Week in House: 
 
House of Reps
 Democratic US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday she hoped the US House of Representatives will vote "next week" on a new jobs bill to confront the soaring US unemployment rate.
 
Pelosi said a top priority was extending unemployment benefits due to run out soon, as well as a stopgap health insurance program, and that she also wanted measures to help small businesses, infrastructure investments, and help hard-hit states and localities to keep critical workers at their posts.
 
"Whether we can get all of that, I don't know, but that's what I would like to see next week," she told reporters.
 
US President Barack Obama and his Democratic allies, facing deep US public worry over unemployment running at a quarter-century high, have redoubled their efforts to tackle the problem ahead of the November 2010 mid-term elections.
 
Democratic House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said Tuesday that the package would likely run between 75 billion dollars and 150 billion dollars, depending on what it includes.
 
KTC
Until tomorrow,
 

Keys To The Capitol