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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 continue consideration of health-care reform legislation. Votes on Wednesday in relation to the Hutchison Motion to Commit (taxes and implementation) and the Sanders amendment No. 2837 (National Single Payer System) are expected.
Committees
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (10 a.m.): Business meeting to consider S.1102, to provide benefits to domestic partners of Federal employees, S.1830, to establish the Chief Conservation Officers Council to improve the energy efficiencies of Federal agencies, S.2868, to provide increased access to the General Services Administration's Schedules Program by the American Red Cross and State and local governments, H.R.2711, to amend title 5, United States Code, to provide for the transportation of the dependents, remains, and effects of certain Federal employees who die while performing official duties or as a result of the performance of official duties, S.2865, to reauthorize the Congressional Award Act (2 U.S.C. 801 et seq.), S.2872, to reauthorize appropriations for the National Historical Publications and Records Commission through fiscal year 2014, H.R.2877, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 76 Brookside Avenue in Chester, New York, as the "1st Lieutenant Louis Allen Post Office", H.R.3667, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 16555 Springs Street in White Springs, Florida, as the "Clyde L. Hillhouse Post Office Building", H.R.3788, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 3900 Darrow Road in Stow, Ohio, as the "Corporal Joseph A. Tomci Post Office Building", H.R.1817, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 116 North West Street in Somerville, Tennessee, as the "John S. Wilder Post Office Building", H.R.3072, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 9810 Halls Ferry Road in St. Louis, Missouri, as the "Coach Jodie Bailey Post Office Building", H.R.3319, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 440 South Gulling Street in Portola, California, as the "Army Specialist Jeremiah Paul McCleery Post Office Building", H.R.3539, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 427 Harrison Avenue in Harrison, New Jersey, as the "Patricia D. McGinty-Juhl Post Office Building", H.R.3767, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 170 North Main Street in Smithfield, Utah, as the "W. Hazen Hillyard Post Office Building", and 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. SD-342.
Senate Judiciary (10:30 a.m.): Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law - Hearings to examine United States implementation of human rights treaties. SD-226 .
Senate Energy and Natural Resources (11:30 a.m.): Business meeting to consider pending calendar business. SD-366 .
Senate Armed Services (1:30 p.m.): To receive a briefing on the assessment by the Joint Estimating Team of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program. SR-222 .
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (2:30 p.m.): Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security - Hearings to examine tools to combat deficits and waste, focusing on enhanced rescission authority. SD-342 .
Senate Judiciary (3 p.m.): Hearings to examine the nominations of James A. Wynn, Jr., of North Carolina, and Albert Diaz, of North Carolina, both to be United States Circuit Judge for the Fourth Circuit. SD-226.
THE HOUSE
The House meets at 9:00 a.m. ET and will proceed to a Motion to Concur in the Senate Amendment with a House Amendment to H.R. 3326, Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2010.
Committees
House Veterans Affairs (10 a.m.): Oversight and Investigations Subc. On acquisition deficiencies at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Dept. and public witnesses. 334 CHOB.
House Oversight and Government Reform (2 p.m.): Information Policy, Census, and National Archives Subc. On the mission of the National Archives and the Records Administration. 2154 RHOB.
House Natural Resources (10 a.m.): Full Committee. Markup of pending resources legislation. 1324 LHOB.
House Judiciary (2 p.m.): Courts and Competition Policy Subc. On H.R. 4115 - Open Access to the Courts Act. 2237 RHOB.
House Armed Services (1:30 p.m.): Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and Capabilities Subc. On understanding cyberspace as a medium for radicalization and counter-radicalization. Public witnesses. HVC-210 Capitol..
House Energy and Commerce (9:30 a.m.): Health Subc. On innovations in addressing childhood obesity. 2123 RHOB..
House Homeland Security (2 p.m.): Transportation Security and Infrastructure Protection Subc. On why sensitive secure information from the Transportation Security Administration was made available to the public and how to prevent the release of secure information in the future. Gale Rossides, Acting Administrator, Transportation Security Administration, Department of Homeland Security. 311 CHOB.
House Judiciary (10 a.m.): Full Committee. On piracy of live sports broadcasting over the Internet. 2141 RHOB.
House Judiciary (2:30 p.m.): Commercial and Administrative Law Subc. On protecting employees in airline bankruptcies. Public witnesses. 2141 RHOB.
House Oversight and Government Reform (10 a.m.): Domestic Policy Subc. On taxpayer rights and government shareholding. 2154 RHOB.
House (Select) Intelligence (4 p.m.): Terrorism, Human Intelligence, Analysis, and Counterintelligence Subc. On hot spots. HVC-304 Capitol. |
House Approves Millitary Spending Bill:
 The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday approved a $636 billion military spending bill that funds the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and also includes money to extend jobless aid for two months.
By a vote of 395 to 34, the House approved the bill and sent it on to the Senate, which is expected to act as soon as Friday, when current funding expires.
The bill covers Pentagon operations through September 30, 2010. But the $124 billion approved for ongoing wars probably will not be enough to cover President Barack Obama's plans to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan.
The spending bill represents a partial victory for Obama and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who had sought to eliminate unwanted weapons programs over the objections of lawmakers who represent areas where they are manufactured.
Congress eliminated funding for Lockheed-Martin Corp's F-22 fighter jet, but provided 10 more Boeing Co C-17 transport planes than the Pentagon asked for, at a cost of $2.5 billion.
The bill keeps alive the troubled VH-71 presidential helicopter program and continues to fund an alternate engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, made by General Electric Co and Britain's Rolls-Royce Group Plc
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Native Hawaiian Bill Gaining Traction: 
Two congressional committees are considering legislation this week that would let native Hawaiians establish their own government, much like those organized by hundreds of Indian tribes.
The House Natural Resources Committee takes first crack at the bill Wednesday. The Senate Indian Affairs Committee takes up the legislation Thursday.
The legislation had been expected to easily win the committees' approval, but Hawaii's governor and attorney general voiced objections late Tuesday to some of the changes that sponsors plan to propose. In light of the objections, Republican lawmakers have asked for a delay. Democrats, however, sensing they have the votes to prevail, are determined to proceed.
"Consideration of this bill should not go forward when the people and government officials who would be directly impacted by this legislation have raised serious objections and have not even had a chance to properly review the text," said Rep. Doc Hastings of Washington state, the ranking Republican on the House Natural Resources Committee.
The legislation, known as the Akaka bill after its lead sponsor, Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, has a long history. The bill would provide a road map to gradually establish a Native Hawaiian government.
Once established, the Native Hawaiian government would negotiate with the state and the federal government over which assets it would own. Currently, the state administers 1.2 million acres of former monarchy land. Some of that land, which is quite valuable, could eventually revert to the new government.
Supporters say the bill is about righting an injustice to Native Hawaiians that occurred when Hawaii's monarchy was overthrown in 1893. They note that Indian tribes and Alaska Natives have the right to self-governance.
"I believe we must provide parity between Native Hawaiians and our country's other indigenous people," said Akaka.
Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle and state Attorney General Mark Bennett have been supporters of the Akaka bill in the past. However, in a letter to federal lawmakers, Bennett said changes being made to the legislation are "detrimental to the state."
Bennett said authority granted the new government entity should come about only after negotiations and after the passage of legislation enacted by Congress, and when applicable, by the state. But an amended version of the bill makes immediate changes that are not subject to negotiation.
"These changes may immediately incorporate into the law governing Native Hawaiians a vast body of Indian law, much of which is unsuited for the state of Hawaii, and none of which (to our knowledge) has been evaluated for its impact on Hawaii," Bennett said.
Congressional aides said changes being proposed to the bill were sought by lawyers at the Justice Department.
"The Obama administration requested that we make it consistent with U.S. policy toward other native groups," said Jesse Broder Van Dyke, a spokesman for Akaka.
The legislation allowing for a Native Hawaiian government has passed the House on two occasions, most recently in October 2007, but it routinely has stumbled in the Senate. While the Bush administration opposed the bill, the support of President Barack Obama, who was born in Hawaii, has changed the political dynamic.
KTC
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House Racing For Year End Finish Line:
House Democrats have exit signs in their eyes.
In order to wrap up their work for the year in time for a delegation led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to jet to an international climate change summit in Copenhagen, Democrats are set to do some hyper-legislating today.
On tap is a $626 billion Defense spending bill loaded with scaled-down patches for unemployment and other benefits; a two-month debt limit increase totaling about $200 billion; a roughly $150 billion jobs package, half paid for with money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program; and a short-term continuing resolution to give the Senate until next week to approve the Defense measure.
Democratic leaders started the week with a plan to send the Senate a massive package that jammed together the Defense spending bill with a long-term debt ceiling increase and the jobs package. Their decision to move a leaner Defense bill instead - and the jobs bill and a short-term debt extension separately - reflects an acknowledgment of reality in the chamber. It also reflects the desire of Democratic leadership to send its Members home for the holidays with no threat of returning after Christmas - though on the outside chance that the Senate amends the Defense bill, another House vote could still be required this year.
House leaders recognized that Senators, consumed with the health care debate, were unlikely to swallow whole the House jobs package. And objections from moderates in both chambers were complicating efforts to pass an increase in the debt limit up to $1.9 trillion aimed at carrying the federal government into December 2010 and punting the next difficult vote on the issue past the midterm elections.
Instead, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) is leading negotiations with Blue Dog Democrats and Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) to pass a longer-term debt ceiling increase next year that will also include two top priorities for the fiscal hawks: enshrining pay-as-you-go budgeting into law and setting up a commission to tackle soaring entitlement spending.
"We're dealing with reality here," one House Democratic leadership aide said. "It's nice to make a point and send something over there. By passing a jobs bill that's separate, we still get to lay down our marker, but it doesn't hold up the show for no real reason. It came down to, 'What can the Senate get done?' And the answer is, 'Not very much.'"
The jobs bill has two components. The first, considered emergency spending and therefore not paid for with tax increases or spending cuts, extends funding for six months for unemployment and health benefits, food stamps, and Medicaid assistance to states. The second, paid for with redirected TARP funds, provides funding for infrastructure projects, credit for small businesses and aid to state and local governments to shore up public service jobs.
Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) dismissed criticism that TARP funds should be used instead to reduce the deficit. "TARP was used to assist Wall Street. Now the problem is on Main Street and we make no sort of apology whatsoever for trying to give the same amount of attention to Main Street needs as were given earlier to Wall Street needs," he said.
Pelosi said she hopes the Senate will take up the jobs package quickly in January so President Barack Obama can sign it into law before he delivers the State of the Union address. "It is a bill that creates jobs, that meets the needs of those who are unemployed and puts us on a path to prosperity," she said at a press conference unveiling the bill, officially dubbed the Jobs for Main Street Act.
Some top aides were grumbling, however, that the slow pace of Senate action - and the lack of White House involvement - means House Democrats are going home without tangible help for constituents struggling to find employment. "No one is at the table with us, so we're acting alone," one leadership aide said. "This doesn't help the American people who don't have jobs."
The Defense measure also carries two-month patches for a number of items, including the Medicare reimbursement rate for doctors, the USA PATRIOT Act, the Surface Transportation Act, flood insurance and small-business loans, among others.
A grab-bag of tax breaks set to expire at the end of the year appears likely to be left off the end-of-year legislative train. At press time, staff were still discussing how to handle an extension of the estate tax, which expires at the end of the year.
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Until tomorrow,
Keys To The Capitol |
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