Published 19 Dec, 2011 House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) 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 the American middle…Read More…

Published 12 Dec, 2011 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 Pipeline project…Read More…

Published 28 Nov, 2011 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-era tax cuts and cutting Medicare. As the Defense Act comes to the floor in the Senate this week, and avoiding sequestration…Read More…

Published 14 Nov, 2011 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…Read More…

Published 05 Nov, 2011 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…Read More…

Published 01 Nov, 2011 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…Read More…

Published 17 Oct, 2011 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,…Read More…

Published 12 Oct, 2011 The Senate voted on two contentious issues Tuesday evening a bill condemning currency manipulation by the Chinese government which passed and the President’s jobs bill, the American Jobs Act which failed. Important business continues in the upper chamber Wednesday when the three pending free trade agreements—Panama, South Korea, and Colombia—will likely…Read More…

Published 07 Sep, 2011 Congress returns to session this week after the August recess. The “supercommittee” tasked with bringing the deficit into control has scheduled its organizational meeting for Thursday (9/8) morning, the same day President Obama will unveil his jobs plan to a joint session of Congress. The Senate Committee on the Environment and…Read More…