Today's Hill Action:
THE SENATE:
The Senate is not in session.
House Oversight and Government Reform (10 a.m.): Full Committee and Domestic Policy Subc. Joint hrng. on the Bank of America and Merrill Lynch merger.
House Judiciary (11 a.m.): Commercial and Administrative Law Subc. On whether voluntary mortgage modification will help save families from foreclosure. Public witnesses. |
Senate to Vote Saturday Morning:
 The Senate will vote at 9:30 a.m. Saturday on a procedural motion to end debate on the $446.8 billion omnibus spending package, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announced Friday.
Reid hoped to avoid a weekend session, but Republicans have not agreed to yield back time to proceed to a vote on the spending measure. If the Saturday cloture motion passes as expected, the Senate will return Sunday to vote on final passage on the omnibus.
The spending package approved by the House earlier in the week includes six appropriations bills. The Senate is expected to return to the health care reform bill once it dispenses with the omnibus.
KTC |
Congresswoman Baldwin Has Swine Flu: 
Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) this week became the second Member of Congress to get diagnosed with the swine flu.
Baldwin, who has missed votes since Wednesday, remains camped out in her Washington, D.C., apartment on the advice of a physician.
"Like many Americans, I'm feeling the effects of this nasty virus. I very much regret missing House business, including floor consideration of a bill I strongly support to overhaul our financial system and ensure that Wall St. and big banks can no longer abuse the public trust. Thankfully, I am already beginning to feel better and hope to be back to full strength very soon," Baldwin said in a statement.
In October, Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) announced that he was diagnosed with H1N1. Rep. Joe Wilson's (R-S.C.) wife and Rep. Melissa Bean's (D-Ill.) son have also come down with the virus. KTC |
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House Passes Historic Financial Sector Overhaul:
The House of Representatives approved the biggest changes in financial regulation since the Great Depression on Friday, marking a win for the Obama administration and congressional Democrats.
With the Senate due to debate similar reforms well into next year, the House passed a 1,279-page bill hammered out in the months since last year's global banking and capital market crisis convinced Democrats of an urgent need for reform.
The bill would create an inter-agency council to police systemic risk in the economy, crack down on hedge funds and credit rating agencies, set up a financial consumer watchdog agency, and expose Federal Reserve monetary policy to unprecedented congressional scrutiny, among other reforms.
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