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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 will convene at 10:00 a.m. ET and will resume consideration of H.R.3590, health-care reform legislation. The Senate will recess from 12:45 p.m. until 3:15 p.m. to allow for the weekly caucus luncheons. At approximately 6:00 p.m., the Senate will proceed to vote in relation to the following items (by unanimous consent each item requires 60-affirmative votes for adoption): - Baucus amendment (taxes) - Crapo Motion to Commit (taxes) - Dorgan amendment #2793 (Prescription Drug Reimportation) - Lautenberg amendment #3156 (Prescription Drug Reimportation)
Committees
Senate Energy and Natural Resources (10 a.m.): Hearings to examine S.2052, to amend the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to require the Secretary of Energy to carry out a research and development and demonstration program to reduce manufacturing and construction costs relating to nuclear reactors, and S.2812, to amend the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to require the Secretary of Energy to carry out programs to develop and demonstrate 2 small modular nuclear reactor designs. SD-366.
Senate Foreign Relations (10 a.m.): Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs - Hearings to examine reevaluating United States policy in Central Asia. SD-419 .
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (10 a.m.): Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia - Hearings to examine efforts to improve management integration at the Department of Homeland Security. SD-342.
Senate Judiciary (10 a.m.): Hearings to examine ensuring the effective use of DNA evidence to solve rape cases nationwide. SD-226 .
Senate (Select) Intelligence (2:30 p.m.): Closed hearings to consider certain intelligence matters. SH-219 .
Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation (3:30 p.m.): Hearings to examine the nominations of Julie Simone Brill, of Vermont, and Edith Ramirez, of California, both to be a Federal Trade Commissioner, David L. Strickland, of Georgia, to be Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Department of Transportation, Michael A. Khouri, of Kentucky, to be a Federal Maritime Commissioner, and Nicole Yvette Lamb-Hale, of Michigan, to be Assistant Secretary of Commerce. SR-253 .
THE HOUSE
The House meets at 9:00 a.m. ET for morning business.
Committees
House Oversight and Government Reform (10 a.m.): National Security and Foreign Affairs Subc. On Iran sanctions. Public witnesses. 2154 RHOB..
House Homeland Security (10 a.m.): Intelligence, Information Sharing, and Terrorism Risk Assessment Subc. On efforts to prevent violent, radical actions without interfering with radical, but legally protected, thought. Dept. and public witnesses. 311 CHOB..
House Armed Services (2 p.m.): Full Committee. Markup of H.Res. 924 - Directing the Secretary of Defense to transmit to the House of Representatives copies of any document, record, memo, correspondence, or other communication of the Department of Defense, or any portion of such communication, that refers or relates to the trial or detention of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarek Bin 'Attash, Ramzi Binalshibh, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, or Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi. HVC-210 Capitol.
House Energy and Commerce (9:30 a.m.): Communications, Technology, and the Internet Subc. On H.R. 3125 - The Radio Spectrum Inventory Act, and H.R. 3019 - The Spectrum Relocation Improvement Act. 2123 RHOB..
House Financial Services (10 a.m.): Full Committee. On the U.S. market for covered bonds. Public witnesses. 2128 RHOB..
House Foreign Affairs (2 p.m.): Europe Subc. On the Lisbon Treaty and implications for future relations between the European Union and the United States. Dept. and public witnesses. 2172 RHOB..
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. 2141 RHOB..
House Ways and Means (9:30 a.m.): Social Security Subc. and Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management Subc. of the Transportation and Infrastructure Comte. Joint hrng. on the Recovery Act project to replace the Social Security Administration's National Computer Center. Dept. and public witnesses. 1100 LHOB.. |
Senate Getting Closer to 60 Votes on Health Care:
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin indicated Tuesday that despite the decision of Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) to back away from the current health care reform bill in the Senate, Democrats will have 60 votes there for some sort of bill "next week."
"Senator Lieberman expressed himself Sunday that he was concerned about several provisions of the bill, and we have been working with him and with the caucus since," the Illinois Democrat said during an interview on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."
"We are moving towards 60," Durbin continued. "We think we will have it by next week."
At this point, Durbin said, Democratic leaders are eager to cut a deal that would bring Lieberman - or any other senator - on board.
"If you don't have 60, you're empty-handed," Durbin said. "In this case, we need to find a way to get to 60 votes, and that means accommodating and making concessions on a lot of issues we'd rather not make concessions on."
Durbin also said Democrats were reluctant to use reconciliation to pass the bill, noting that they would not be able to get everything they want in the current piece of legislation if they used the expedited maneuver.
"Reconciliation is a very spare and thin process with limited opportunities," he said. "For example, no insurance reform if we do reconciliation. We won't give American consumers the tools that they need to fight back against the health insurance companies. And I think they understand, as we do, that's a very, very important element in this package."
KTC |
Congressman Gordon Will Not Seek Re-Election: 
Rep. Bart Gordon, a 13-term congressman from Tennessee, announced Monday he will not seek re-election next year, the latest Democrat in a string of retirements.
Gordon, 60, won re-election easily last year, garnering 74 percent of the vote, but was still on a list of Democrats targeted by Republicans in midterm elections.
"Turning 60 has led me to do some thinking about what's next," he said in a statement. "I have an 8-year-old daughter and a wonderful wife who has a very demanding job, and I am the only child of my 83-year-old mother Margaret. They have made sacrifices to allow me to do what I love by serving Congress, and now it's my turn."
Gordon is the chairman of the House Committee on Science and Technology. He was first elected in 1984, after Al Gore gave up his seat to run for the Senate. He beat Steve Gill, a lawyer and later radio talk show host, by just 2,200 votes out of 180,000 cast in that race. He defeated Gill more comfortably in a rematch two years later, and has since cruised to re-election.
The 6th Congressional District includes 15 counties that range east from Nashville's fast-growing suburbs to the Cumberland Plateau. GOP candidate John McCain carried the district by 25 percentage points last year over Barack Obama.
Gordon's announcement comes less than two weeks after fellow Tennessee Democratic Rep. John Tanner said he was retiring after 11 terms in Congress. That prompted Democratic state Sen. Roy Herron to drop his gubernatorial bid to instead seek Tanner's seat.
Gordon and Tanner had both drawn GOP challengers, as had Tennessee Democratic Congressman Lincoln Davis.
Andy Sere, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said that Gordon's retirement "is yet another indication that Tennessee Democrats like Roy Herron and Lincoln Davis are fighting uphill in 2010." The NRCC has been assailing Gordon for his votes on health care, the federal stimulus package and on carbon cap-and-trade legislation.
U.S. Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said in a statement, "We are confident that a Democrat who shares Chairman Gordon's commitment to putting progress before partisanship on behalf of Middle Tennessee will succeed him as the next representative of Tennessee's 6th District."
Lou Ann Zelenik has stepped down as chairwoman of the Rutherford County Republican Party to focus on her challenge for Gordon's seat, while Republican state Sen. Jim Tracy's campaign manager, Mike McCrady, said Monday that Tracy is running for the seat.
Tracy is a Shelbyville insurance agent, former NCAA basketball referee and current chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee.
On the Democratic side, state Rep. Henry Fincher, a Harvard-educated attorney from Cookeville, said he is considering joining the race.
"I'm sure I have a lot of company in mulling it over," he said.
Fincher, who has been a vocal supporter of gun rights and an opponent of abortion rights in the state legislature, said he expects a Democrat with "rural values" to have a strong showing.
Gordon cited among his accomplishments passage of the "America Competes Act," which called for increased spending on math and science programs.
"With the challenges our country faces, we have laid the foundation to rebuild our economy based on innovation, investments in research, and a sustained commitment to math and science education," he said. "For these reasons, I am committed to reauthorizing both the America Competes Act and NASA in the coming year."
Last week, Rep. Brian Baird, D-Wash., announced he would not seek re-election next year so he can spend more time with his family and pursue other ways to serve.
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House Looking For Wednesday Adjournment:
House Democratic leaders have cobbled together an endgame aimed at adjourning as soon as Wednesday night, though that timeline could slip if the crush of end-of-year business drags on or if the Senate scraps a bicameral deal on the Defense spending bill.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Tuesday that the House still has to get through four bills before leaving town: the Defense spending bill, a short-term continuing resolution that expires on Dec. 23 or 24 to give the Senate wiggle room to pass the Defense bill, a two-month debt extension totaling about $200 billion and a roughly $75 billion jobs bill focused on infrastructure and public sector employment.
Signaling that things could take longer than House Democrats want them to, Hoyer told reporters that he wished for everybody to "have a merry, happy Christmas as we all enjoy one another's company." He said it is "possible" that lawmakers may have to come back Saturday or early next week to finish business.
The main reason lawmakers would have to come back next week is if the Senate changes the Defense bill after it passes the House and Members have gone home. Hoyer said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has signaled that he thinks the two chambers can reach agreement in advance.
"We hope they don't modify it, which is why the Defense bill will not include many of the things that we think ought to be included. They will not be included because we can't get an agreement that Sen. Reid can get 60 votes for it. It is his hope and expectation that when we come to final agreement, he thinks he'll be able to pass that in the Senate," Hoyer said.
In addition to providing funds for continuing the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Defense bill will temporarily extend a number of items, including the Medicare doctor fix, the USA PATRIOT Act, the Surface Transportation Act, the Satellite bill, flood insurance and small-business loans. The bill will also extend unemployment, COBRA, state Medicaid assistance and food stamps.
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Until tomorrow,
Keys To The Capitol |
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