With both chambers back from holiday recess and President Obama’s goals laid out in the State of the Union, lawmakers are back to business with a vengeance this week. Two extremely important bills will see final negotiations this week, as the FAA Authorizations conference committee meets to hash out the differences between the House- and Senate-passed versions of the bill, as well as the conferees for the Payroll Tax and Unemployment Insurance extensions. Both the House and Senate Budget Committees will host hearings on the budget and economic outlook, and the House body will also discuss “the state of the US economy.”


Several sessions are scheduled to mark up the transit bill, which also pertains to rail, highway spending, hazmat, maritime, and energy issues. The House T&I Committee will go over their 5-year bill, which hasn’t been released in its entirety yet; the Senate Banking committee will mark up their relevant pieces of the Senates’ 2-year version of the proposal. Tentative meetings are planned in two other committees that deal with the legislation, if time and logistics allow.
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House Speaker John Boehner in a news conference proclaimed his party’s intentions of voting down a measure passed last week by the Senate. The Senate voted in a bipartisan fashion (89-10) to extend payroll tax cuts and some unemployment benefits, yet the House is once again holding hostage the American Middle class by not approving extending payroll tax cuts and unemployment benefits for those that have the unfortunate circumstance of losing jobs in this dire economy.

Republican Senator Scott Brown, today said it best: "We cannot allow rigid partisan ideology and unwillingness to compromise stand in the way of working together for the good of the American people." Unfortunately, this has become the case.

According to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Boehner flip-flopped having originally left it to the Senate to come to a compromise with the understanding that he would persuade his colleagues to move the bill forward. Now with claims of wanting provisions that cut down the weeks of unemployment insurance, enforced drug testing on unemployed workers, and cuts to Medicare and the Affordable Care Act included, the Speaker once again is creating a crisis for crisis sake.

Despite these actions the facts are undeniable. The bill passed in the Senate reduced the deficit by nearly $3 billion, it is fully paid for, and is a boost to the economy generating between 10 and 90 cents for every dollar of budgetary cost.

These egregious acts are uncalled for and members of Congress whether Democrat or Republican must be held accountable. American families are already making the hard choices and Congress decides to increase the weight of such a burden.

Otherwise, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and expect the House and Senate to remain in pro forma session and return to full session mid January.
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This week may be the last that Congress is in session before the holidays, but only if they finish the important work before them. The House of Representatives is slated to vote on an unemployment insurance bill that slashes benefits, coupled with a provision to keep the Keystone XL project alive under the auspices of creating jobs and is expected to pass on a party-line vote. What the Senate would do with it is unclear (though a floor speech from Senator Durbin, the Assistant Majority Leader leans against passing the bill) federal unemployment benefits expire December 31, and action is needed. Later the House will vote on military construction spending, and the defense authorization. In addition to tackling the UI bill, the Senate will also vote on a balance budget amendment this week.

House Ways and Means will discuss the TPP—Trans-Pacific Partnership, which will be the first trade deal wholly negotiated by the Obama Administration, and with 111 days before the transit and highway extension is up and only 51 before the FAA extension expires, the House T&I Committee has been scheduled to vilify California’s high-speed passenger rail program.
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This week both chambers of Congress are in, with the Republican leadership in the House deciding to spend their last weeks before the holiday recess voting to roll back America’s system for enacting safeguarding regulations. The Senate will attempt to confirm presidential nominations that have met GOP resistance, and will also debate the extension of the payroll tax holiday that plumped everyone’s paycheck this year.

The House T&I Committee will hold a hearing this week in which they showcase the so-called failings of high-speed intercity rail, and the Senate HELP Committee will hear about the plight of the unemployed at the same time thousands of unemployed workers gather in Washington for a prayer vigil and to lobby their representatives.
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Last week, the super committee failed to find a solution to creating revenue and attacking our Nation’s deficit. Democratic members of the committee said Republicans had two goals; extending bush tax cuts and cutting Medicare. As the Defense Act comes to the floor in the Senate this week, and avoiding sequestration heavily on the minds of members, Senator McCain is offering an amendment to repeal sequestration of defense funding. Sequestration requires an across the board cut of both Domestic (500 billion) and Defense (500 billion); however, no one knows where the money will come out from in the domestic budget if defense is spared.

Coming up In the House this week, the controversial National Labor Relations Board bill that would reverse voting laws that permitted fair labor elections shorting the time to under 35 days . Brian Hayes, one of the NLRB members has caused an uproar with a letter iterating the possibility of his resignation. If he resigns it will leave two members on the board which means the NLRB cannot legally proceed with any votes. The AFL-CIO, SEIU, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) and other key labor groups, such as the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the United Steelworkers have voice their discontent about the issue and what Hayes’ departure would do.

Also on this week’s schedule are ongoing negotiations regarding Unemployment Insurance. The present UI provisions expire on December 18. If UI is not extended out of the 6 million people affected, 2 million will feel the repercussions in January. A hearing in the Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee will hash out concerns next week.

The Senate is also in discussions about extending the Payroll tax that gives a 2% reduction for middle class families. Senator Casey has announced a plan to stop a huge tax hike from hitting the middle class. Retiring Senator Kyle has promised to filibuster the bill.
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Both Houses are out for the Thanksgiving Holiday and expected to return for votes next Monday, November 28, 2011.
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This week both chambers of Congress are in session in Washington, DC and have several important hearings as well as floor votes scheduled. The House will vote on a balanced budget amendment, as determined in the agreement made earlier this year in August, to keep the federal government funded. Expected also is a vote on another continuing resolution to keep certain agencies of the government open again by Friday of this week. The Senate is slated to take a similar vote on different agencies and may take a vote on a bill that would roll back the powers of the National Labor Relations Board.

The House Oversight and Government Reform and the House Financial Services Committees will hold a hearing on the role of regulations in job creation, and Senate Budget will discuss the European approach to regs while House Rules votes on the REINS Act— a bill that would dramatically hinder agencies’ ability to promulgate rules. The Senate Indian Affairs Committee and a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee will have hearings on internet gaming.
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The House is recessed this week, and the Senate is expected to vote on the veterans’ component of the American Jobs Act, after failing to pass the infrastructure piece last week. Senate committees are meeting, including a hearing on the TSA reauthorization in the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, a review of Unemployment Insurance programs in Finance, and after much waiting, a mark-up of the Senate’s 2-year Surface Reauthorization in Environment and Public Works.
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This week both the House and Senate are in session.  In the Senate, Reid has indicated that members will vote on a minibus that includes Transportation-HUD funding.  The House leadership has made it clear that they will conference with the Senate on all appropriations bills, including those yet to be voted on.
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The House is in recess this week, leaving the Senate to begin tackling appropriations. During the week their plan is to focus on a small packing of departments they believe they can find consensus on. Senate HELP is holding a subcommittee hearing on the effects of the recession on older Americans, as well as marking up an overhaul to EASA—the Elementary and Secondary Education Act which has been known as “No Child Left Behind” in recent years.
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