Recapping Last Week in Congress

Well, the last real week in Congress was, let's see... just before Christmas. So it's been nearly a month since they did any real work, which is not at all atypical at this time of year.

But of course, we did have the recess appointment kerfuffle during Congress's absence, so for the next few days, Republicans are likely to insist they never really left at all.

This Week in Congress

This week, it's just the House that's "back" in session. And when I say "back," I don't mean to lend any particular credence to Republican claims about the status of the Congress over the past month. I'm only referring to the fact that the House's workweek consists of a quorum call and a single vote on Tuesday evening, and a short day on Wednesday.

Seriously. Look:

THE WEEKLY WHIP: FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 2012

First Vote Of The Week: Tuesday 6:30 p.m.
Last Vote Predicted: Wednesday 3:00 p.m.

MONDAY, JANUARY 16, 2012
On Monday, the House is not in session.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2012
On Tuesday, The House will meet at 2:00 p.m. for pro forma business and recess immediately. Votes will be postponed until 6:30 p.m.

Quorum Call at 6:30 p.m. – Establishing a quorum in the House of Representatives for the Second Session of the 112th Congress.

H.Res. __ Electing the 36th Sergeantat-Arms of the House of Representatives, Paul Irving (Privileged Resolution)

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 2012 AND THE BALANCE OF THE WEEK
On Wednesday, the House will meet at 10:00 a.m. for Morning Hour debate and 12:00 p.m. for legislative business. On Thursday and Friday, no votes are expected in the House to accommodate the Republican Issues Conference.

H.J.Res. 98 - Relating to the disapproval of the President’s exercise of authority to increase the debt limit, as submitted under section 3101A of title 31, United States Code, on January 12, 2012 (Rep. Reed - Ways and Means) (Subject to a Rule)

There's just nothing doing here. It's hardly even worth coming back. Or "back," as the case may be. But they've got to come back and prevent things from being done sometime, so it might as well be now.

This week's schedule, after a live call of the House to establish a quorum for the second session of the 112th Congress, will include a vote on a new Sergeant at Arms, which I only regret seeing done before he's questioned about whether or not he'd execute arrest warrants for federal judges who cross a hypothetical President Gingrich. Other than that, the only scheduled item is a resolution of disapproval on a second debt limit increase—another formality set up for failure under the August deal that gave us the failed Super Committee.

No word yet on whether there'll be any sort of resolution regarding the recess appointments, as Rep. Diane Black (R-TN-06) suggests, though you may recall that she said in her announcement that she hoped the House would take her resolution up as soon as they returned to Washington, which tipped her hand a little bit in terms of whether or not she thought they were out on recess.

In any case, the resolution would be non-binding, since there's not much the House can really do about the appointments. Save impeaching the President, that is. But enough about that. By Wednesday, it'll be time to take the rest of the week off.

I can't believe I have to write another one of these.

Well, I'll tell you this much: I'm not waiting around for them to post their damn schedule. It could be 3 a.m. before they get around to that, for all I know! And they really were talking about it taking that long to finish up the day's business.

Why? Because the House Republican leadership was unable to determine just what that business was going to be. They didn't want to agree to the Senate's version of the payroll tax cut extension bill, but they also don't want to deal with the backlash of voting it down. So the word is, they'll vote on a motion to disagree with the Senate's amendment and request a conference, instead.

That's not really all that convoluted or unusual, despite the chatter last night and this morning. It could be considered something of a cop-out in that there's no direct vote on rejecting the Senate's version outright. But even if there were, under normal procedure you would only bother going on record in disagreement if you intended to use that as a stepping stone from which to request a conference. So in that sense, this is pretty routine.

Where this departs from standard procedure is that usually a conference is requested between two houses that have a genuine interest in ironing out a compromise, whereas this particular request for a conference appears to be motivated by something quite different, though no one can actually tell what that something is. After all, the Senate's version of the bill is the compromise position. The compromise was to pass a short-term, two-month extension in order to buy time to talk things over some more. And yet the House's response to the Senate's offer of further negotiations is, at least formally, "No! We want further negotiations!"

So you can see where things are likely to get a little hairy. Basically, the Senate has said they want to sit down and talk over their differences with Republicans in the House, and the Republicans are hanging their hats on the claim that a perfectly good reason to let the tax cut expire is that they prefer to have different people sit down in a different room to talk things over. And the best way they could think of to show you they're serious about this is to raise taxes on 160 million working families just as their credit card bills from the holidays come due.

Nice!

You'd have better luck finding "bipartisan compromise" with a case of herpes.

Oh my God. Another Today in Congress? War on Christmas, I tell you!

When we last left off, the House had passed the necessary continuing appropriations bill (plus two short-term back-up bills as emergency measures, only one of which became necessary), and sent the Senate a payroll tax cut extension bill that had been larded up with ideological riders designed as poison pills for the Senate. It was clear at that point that the Senate wanted nothing to do with the House's nonsense, so in breaking for the weekend, the House leadership went ahead and scheduled a session for today.

As expected, the Senate rejected the House's version of the payroll tax cut bill, and substituted its own, this one without so much of the crap, and designed as a temporary, two-month compromise to allow time to work out something more permanent. Senate Dems had held out in their insistence that the payroll tax bill be acted on before the appropriations, in order to leverage a deal (else the government would partially shut down for lack of funding). But though Senate Republicans came to terms with that arrangement, House Republicans want it undone. Now that the necessary appropriations are in place and the Senate's leverage is gone, they're balking at approving the two month deal.

So here's what's on the schedule for today:

THE NIGHTLY WHIP: SUNDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2011

TOMORROW’S OUTLOOK
On Monday, the House will meet at 10:00 a.m. for legislative business.
First votes expected: 6:30 p.m.
Last votes expected: ???

"One Minutes"

Suspensions (5 bills)

1. H.Res. 497 - To provide for the placement of a statue or bust of Sir Winston Churchill in the United States Capitol (Rep. Boehner - House Administration)
2. Senate Amendment to H.R. 2056 - To instruct the Inspector General of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to study the impact of insured depository institution failures, and for other purposes (Rep. Westmoreland - Financial Services)
3. Senate Amendment to H.R. 1801 - Risk-Based Security Screening for Members of the Armed Forces Act (Rep. Cravaack - Homeland Security)
4. Senate Amendment to H.R. 1059 - To protect the safety of judges by extending the authority of the Judicial Conference to redact sensitive information contained in their financial disclosure reports, and for other purposes (Rep. Conyers - Judiciary)
5. Senate Amendment to H.R. 515 - Belarus Democracy and Human Rights Act of 2011 (Rep. Smith (NJ) - Foreign Affairs)

Motion to Concur in the Senate Amendment to H.R. 3630 - Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2011 (Rep. Camp - Ways and Means/ Energy and Commerce)

But if the House doesn't agree with the Senate's amendment to payroll tax cut extension bill, what are they doing voting on a motion to concur in that amendment?

Well, for one thing, reports are that the exact nature of the vote the House will take today—and possibly others they'll take today and/or tomorrow—has not yet been determined. But one possibility is that they'll vote on a motion to concur, just to reject it. Another would be to concur in the amendment with an amendment of their own, which might well be to change it right back to the way it was before the Senate got it the first time.

Another option would be voting on a motion to disagree with the Senate's amendment and request a conference. But the Senate apparently has no plans to return prior to January 23rd, so anything that puts the House in disagreement with the Senate amendment essentially means that all the programs extended by the bill (payroll tax cuts, unemployment insurance, the "doc fix," etc.) will expire at year's end, and nearly a month will pass before the Senate returns to even consider what the House may try to cook up this week. Essentially it's a big game of chicken. Again. And all the stuff that used to make Democrats blink—like being accused of "defunding the troops," or getting blamed for a government shutdown or a tax increase—doesn't now and never has really meant anything to the Republicans who used to do the accusing.

I suppose there's some room for arguing that Republicans have become sensitive to the politics of the repeated threats of government shutdowns, because they appear to have done what was necessary to avoid that particular problem. But the people who took the country to the brink of default in August appear ready to withstand the accusations that they're responsible for a gigantic tax increase, and in fact are eager to try to sell the exact opposite line and blame it all on Democrats when this falls apart.

We shall see. Stranger things have happened.

Yes, there's unfortunately a today in Congress. It's Saturday, and the House is gone, probably because they're poor and therefore have no work habits. But the Senate is still here, and they've got to clean up the details necessary to keep the government running and the wheels turning on the various expiring programs.

Right now, the lights are still on thanks to the quick passage in both houses yesterday of H. J. Res. 94, a one-day continuing resolution (the House also sent over a back-up one-week CR, just in case).

So here's the playbook for today in the Senate:

Schedule for Saturday, December 17, 2011

The Senate will convene at 9am on Saturday, December 17. Following any Leader remarks, there will be a series of 4 roll call votes in relation to the following items:

-          Reid substitute amendment to H.R.3630, 2 month extension of the payroll tax reduction, doc fix, and unemployment insurance (60-vote threshold);

((up to 15 minutes for debate))

-          Passage of H.R.3672, emergency disaster funding (60-vote threshold);

-          Adoption of H.Con.Res.94, a correcting resolution to provide offsets for the emergency disaster funding (60-vote threshold); and

-          Adoption of the conference report to accompany H.R.2055, Omnibus Appropriations (60-vote threshold).

That correcting resolution I worried about yesterday (H. Con. Res. 94, as distinct from H. J. Res. 94, which was the 1-day CR) turns out to be the "pay-for" for the disaster relief appropriations—another thing we now have to pay for that nobody ever had to before. It's a 1.83% "across-the-board-except-for-stuff-Republicans-are-afraid-to-cut-like-defense-and-veterans" cut in domestic discretionary spending for the rest of fiscal year 2012.

It does sound familiar, though, doesn't it? Almost like that thing that "Super Committee" was supposed to try to do. Except that they were going to be protected from the filibuster (magically!) in order to do it, because that would be the only way such a thing could be done. Unless there was another way, like, say, just doing it the regular way. Notice that all the votes scheduled in the Senate for today will require 60 votes to pass. Guess we didn't need that stupid Super Whatever after all. No wonder the Serious People were all losing their minds over it.

Strange, though. Doesn't an almost 2% across the board cut in everything but defense seem like it'd pay for a lot more than an $8.1 billion disaster relief bill? I can only imagine how deep the not-really-across-the-board cuts would have to be to have made a real impact, as in the Super Committee context. You certainly can begin to imagine how much money they're leaving on the table by exempting defense, anyway.

So that's the deal for the time being. The two-month extension of the expiring programs (payroll tax cut, "doc fix," unemployment), the disaster relief funding, the across-some-of-the-board cuts to pay for the disaster relief, and then the appropriations omnibus that's supposed to take us through the end of the next fiscal year (and out of the shutdown threat cycle). Kudos, by the way, to the Senate, for having the good sense to schedule the "correction" to the disaster relief bill for after the passage of the actual disaster relief bill itself. The reverse move in the House was a little... weird.

The House is set to return on Monday to sign off on the two-month extender bill, since that's being passed in the Senate today as a substitute amendment to the House's full-year version, though that report appears to conflict with another that says, "If the amendment succeeds, however, the bill, H.R. 3630, will be considered passed as amended." So far, though, I can't find any authority for that. I suppose it could have been engineered in some way in one of the flurry of rules and procedural motions made in the House during the last day or so, but a lot of the texts are not yet available online, so I can't tell you for sure. The simplest way of dealing with it, of course, would be for the House to just come back Monday to pass it, and that's what it looks like they're doing.

Recapping yesterday's action:

As of "press time" (usually around the midnight hour), the House had completed work on four suspension bills, and then recessed subject to the call of the chair for about six and a half hours, before returning briefly to file a conference report on H.R. 2055, the MilCon appropriations bill that will be used as a vehicle for an omnibus continuing appropriations measure to keep the government running.

The Senate passed the conference report on the defense authorization bill (indefinite detention and all), and confirmed the nomination of Morgan Christen to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. A number of other housekeeping items moved, along with the start of the Rule XIV process on H.R.3094, the Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act. Sure is a lot of minority Rule XIV-ing going on these days!

Looking ahead to today:

When the House is working this late into the night, scrambling to cobble together a bill and beat a deadline, it's rare for them to get an official schedule posted. But we can pretty much guess that the schedule will be all about getting some continuing appropriations in place before the break, and just maybe some temporary band-aids for the other expiring provisions—like the payroll tax holiday and unemployment insurance—as well.

And in fact, by early this morning a schedule was available from Eric Cantor's office, which you'll find below the fold. That schedule indicates the House will take up the Intelligence Authorization bill that the Senate just amended, as well as a Senate amendment to the "United States Commission on International Religious Freedom Reform and Reauthorization Act."

Then it's on to the deadline stuff. First the conference report on the MilCon appropriations bill, which apparently will also carry with it the continuing appropriations measures. And then, a little bit of... I'm not sure exactly what. They appear to be taking up a resolution calling for enrollment corrections on a bill they haven't passed yet. So that's an interesting play. The bill they haven't passed, but plan to pass today, is a continuing disaster relief appropriations bill. The "correction" they seek to make to it: across the board discretionary spending cuts, in the form of rescissions. I guess the play here is to have a vote on spending cuts the Republicans want, but without considering them directly as amendments to the continuing appropriations bill. That way, they get to go home and say they voted for cuts (and even passed them), but the cuts won't interfere with the passage of the continuing appropriations (which the Senate would probably block), because they're not actually part of the appropriations bill, they're in a separate "corrections" measure that only takes effect if the Senate agrees to it. This way, the government continues to operate, but Republicans get to go on record with their wish list of cuts. Interesting! So their position is that they're wishing for the across-the-board cuts that the failed Super Committee might have made, minus the defense ones.

Don't strain your brains, guys!

The Senate posted a schedule at a decent hour, but it doesn't have much to say, besides what we'd guessed about the House's schedule. But basically, they'll be waiting around for an opportunity to take up the continuing appropriations bill, and whatever they can get together to address the other expiring provisions of law, whether temporarily or for the longer term.

In any case, both houses will be looking to get business wrapped up and get out of town ASAP. There's a cloture motion pending on the House Republicans' payroll tax bill, but that won't be ready for a vote until Saturday. A unanimous consent deal could bump that up, however. Or some other deal on the payroll tax could obviate the need for a vote on the House bill altogether. The key thing to keep in mind is: Senators want to get the hell out of Dodge, too. So look for deals that can make that happen.

Today's floor and committee schedules appear below the fold.

Recapping yesterday's action:

The House made its way, business-like, through the conference report on the defense authorization bill (with the indefinite detention provisions), voted on a couple suspension bills, and debated but postponed votes on a few more.

The Senate voted on and rejected both balanced budget amendments, passed a few measures on voice vote (including an Intelligence Authorization bill), completed the Rule XIV process on the House payroll tax cut conglomeration train wreck, and approved a big batch of military promotions.

Looking ahead to today:

Current official schedule in the House: five suspension bills.

Current official schedule in the Senate: one judicial nomination (9th Circuit), the defense authorization conference report, and just maybe, the above-mentioned House Republican payroll tax mess.

Why put it that way? Because the current continuing appropriations law expires on Friday, and there's the threat of a partial government shutdown (again) if something isn't passed before then. And right now, the vehicle for getting something put into place hasn't got the requisite support. Nor do Senate Dems believe the Republican House will stick around to work out a deal on the payroll tax, et al., if the Senate agrees to an omnibus appropriations bill. And they want both of those things taken care of before anyone goes home.

So we can't say for sure at this point exactly how either house will really spend its day, or for that matter, whether this will be their last in DC for the first session of the 112th Congress.

One way out, of course, would be to pass yet another short-term continuing appropriations bill that keeps things operating at current levels (or as Republicans would have it, and have succeeded in having it in the past, at current levels minus some arbitrary level of cuts), and just punt the payroll tax, UI extension, etc. until later. The only question then would be, when's later? In the few days between Christmas and New Year's? Or might they let those things expire briefly and then fix them retroactively?

We'll just have to sit here like idiots and wait to find out, I guess.

Today's floor and committee schedules appear below the fold.

Recapping yesterday's action:

The House passed its larded-up payroll tax cut extension bill, now chock full of all sorts of crap, including the Keystone XL pipeline provisions. How much other crap is in there? Read this, if you have the heart. Now, chances are that much of this stuff has to go away in order to have any chance of passing in the Senate. But you've probably grown tired of depending on the Senate for such things.

Speaking of the Senate, they held no votes today, but spent their time debating two side-by-side alternatives on the balanced budget amendment, on the floor pursuant to the mandate of the debt ceiling/Super Committee deal.

Aside from the debate, the Senate also finished the Rule XIV process on the Unicorn Prevention Act, and began the Rule XIV process on the House payroll tax cut extension bill (which they're doing despite not yet actually having gotten the bill from the House, but they wanted to get the ball rolling on the process so they hopefully wouldn't have to hang around too long in the week to wrap up).

Looking ahead to today:

The House starts the march toward adjournment of the first session, taking up the conference report on the defense authorization bill, followed by another four suspensions added to the pile, plus six postponed suspension votes held over from previous days. Expect a lot of that postponement business, just to make sure there are things to work on if the substantive stuff gets dragged out for a few more days.

The Senate is set to hold the actual votes on the two balanced budget amendments today. The entire day previous having been devoted to the debate, the voting itself won't actually take all that long, which leaves the Senate free to take up the defense authorization conference report and possibly the House's payroll tax cut extension bill as well.

Today's floor and committee schedules appear below the fold.

Recapping yesterday's action:

The House had a small batch of suspensions to run through yesterday, just to keep the wheels turning. Nothing Earth-shattering. Mostly building namings, and many of the votes were postponed and rescheduled for today.

The Senate, by contrast, had some important votes today. But lately in the Senate, that has meant cloture votes, and yesterday was no exception. Two nominations. Two cloture votes. One success. That was the nomination of Norman L. Eisen to be Ambassador to the Czech Republic. Republicans stuck to their crazy, crazy guns on Mari Carmen Aponte's nomination to be Ambassador to El Salvador, however.

In other Senate developments, the Rule XIV process was triggered, yet again. This time on the Unicorn Prevention Act. Whoopee! This avalanche of Rule XIV filings sure seems like a great idea!

Looking ahead to today:

First up on the agenda for the House is their version of the payroll tax cut extension bill. This is the one with the Keystone XL pipeline demands included, plus whatever else they're cramming in there with it. What else have they got? I don't know. The damn thing was referred to 12 different committees. No, seriously. Twelve. Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, Financial Services, Foreign Affairs, Transportation and Infrastructure, Agriculture, Oversight and Government Reform, House Administration, the Budget, Natural Resources, Rules, and Intelligence.

We'll get 90 minutes on the floor to figure out what's in it. Although that's only a concern if you think the Senate Dems won't kill it.

Hmm.

After that? Seven suspensions, plus perhaps some of the five votes postponed from yesterday.

Speaking of the stalwart firewall of the Senate, they'll spend their day debating two versions of a constitutional balanced budget amendment, one by Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and the other by Mark Udall (D-CO). And I mean they'll spend all day on them. Eight hours of debate, carrying over into tomorrow, when the votes are actually scheduled.

So that should be fun. A whole Senate day on an amendment that didn't pass the House, but which they have to vote on anyway, because it was part of the debt ceiling deal that gave us the Super Committee which also didn't pass anything.

What an awesome Congress.

Today's floor and committee schedules appear below the fold.

Recapping Last Week in Congress

Last week in the House was almost all about the Republican freak-out over regulations, both real and imagined. First, the BANANAS-worthy Regulations From the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act. Then, the "Farm Dust Regulation Prevention Act," which might as well have been the Unicorn Prevention Act.

The Senate's week was also about Republican freak-outs, but in the Senate, Republicans are in the minority, so a freak-out takes the form of a filibuster. And last week saw several: Caitlin Halligan's nomination for the DC Circuit bench; Richard Cordray's nomination to head the CFPB, and; the various alternatives on the payroll tax cut extension.

This Week in Congress

This could be the last week of the first session, and the House kicks its week off with... a slate full of post office, federal building and even park naming bills. Eighteen suspension bills in total are scheduled for the floor this week (not all naming bills, though), as Members scramble to get their non-controversial housekeeping done before the break. Other than the suspensions, the only business that actually appears on the schedule is consideration of a House Republican version of the payroll tax cut extension, and the conference reports on the MilCon appropriations bill and the defense authorization bill. We know, however, that there are still a number of unfinished appropriations bills, the latest temporary extensions of which are scheduled to expire at the end of the week. So we'll either see them bring another omnibus bill to wrap that up, or I suppose they could possibly tuck it into the conference report on MilCon, if they can get an agreement on that.

The Senate stares down the barrel of another couple of filibusters, starting with two on ambassadorial nominations. And one of these in particular really appears to break new ground in audacity, that being the filibuster of Mari Carmen Aponte's nomination as Ambassador to El Salvador, because as the NYT's Gail Collins puts it, Republicans "don’t like a boyfriend she lived with almost 20 years ago."

The rest of the Senate schedule is a catch-all notice that Senators should expect votes on the conference reports (defense authorization and MilCon approps), plus more votes on the payroll tax cut extension.

What that tells us is that both the House and Senate will likely combine a few of the last pending measures together, and tack a few bonus items on to any vehicle that moves, with both parties in both houses likely trying to cram as many of their preferred fixes to the various expiring measures (the Medicare "doc fix," unemployment insurance, etc.) into those bills as they think they can get away with. In addition, the Senate will need to hold its vote on a Balanced Budget Amendment (thanks to the one remaining effective provision of this summer's debt ceiling deal). Some week!

Full floor and committee schedules are below the fold.

Neither the House nor the Senate will be in voting session today. The House is actually scheduled to convene, though it appears it will only do so for housekeeping business, in preparation for its push to wrap up business and adjourn the first session of the 112th Congress at the end of next week.

That business will include additional continuing appropriations measures, extending funding for those remaining governmental functions not funded through FY2012 in the last such bill. In addition, there will have to be renewal of expiring provisions like unemployment insurance, Medicare provider payments (the "doc fix," which has been lingering and limping along on temporary extensions for a few years now), and of course, the payroll tax holiday.

And because such bills would be considered "must-pass" measures, we might well expect some last minute dramatics about which items that might be, shall we say, "less popular," will find their way into these bills.

The Senate will face similar questions, and similar deadlines, with the additional obligation of holding a vote on a balanced budget amendment, thanks to the requirements of summer debt ceiling deal. There will also be additional executive business, including cloture (and hopefully, confirmation) votes on two ambassadorial appointments scheduled for Monday.

Recapping yesterday's action:

The House ran through its scheduled business yesterday, completing work on the unicorn farm dust regulation prevention bill and the amendments to it. And to no one's surprise, the voting basically went like this: if the amendment was offered by a Republican, it passed on voice vote; if the amendment was offered by a Democrat, it was defeated in a roll call vote.

The Senate held an all-filibuster day today, starting with the failure to invoke cloture on the Cordray nomination by a vote of 53-41-1. Then, rather than hang around until today to defeat cloture on a motion to proceed to consideration of the second attempt at the Middle Class Tax Cut Act, the Senate instead agreed to hold matching "painless filibuster" votes (that is, agreeing by unanimous consent to require 60 votes to pass a measure) on the two parties' alternative payroll tax cut provisions. The Middle Class Tax Cut Act "lost" by a vote of 50-48, while the "Temporary Tax Holiday and Government Reduction Act" actually did lose, by a vote of 22-76.

Oh, and there were also a few unanimous consent items taken care of, including the passage of S.1974, the Ultralight Aircraft Smuggling Prevention Act of 2011. So if you were thinking of smuggling any ultralight aircraft this weekend, I'd consider putting those plans off for the time being.

Recapping yesterday's action:

The House agreed to go to conference on H.R. 2055 (MilCon/VA appropriations) and H.R. 1540 (defense authorization), and adopted motions to instruct the conferees on both bills. Just for the sake of completeness, let's note that the instructions were to recede to the Senate on the higher level of funding for the "Department of Veterans Affairs-Medical and Prosthetic Research" account on H.R. 2055, and to insist on the provisions in the House version relating to improved sexual assault prevention and response in the Armed Forces on H.R. 1540.

Next up was H.R. 10, the BANANAS-infused REINS Act, and the consideration of seven amendments. Only one of the seven was passed. Can you guess how many of the amendments were offered by Democrats? Ha ha! Trick question! Because one of those amendments was withdrawn by the sponsor, who was a Republican! So only five of the six that didn't end up passing were sponsored by Democrats. Fooled you!

Winding up business for the day was the voting on the seven postponed suspension bills from Monday. All were passed by voice vote.

Not much in the way of voting or actual accomplishments in the Senate yesterday. They debated whether or not to end debate on the motion to begin debate on the Middle Class Tax Cut, ultimately filing for cloture on the motion to proceed. Other than that, they were waiting out the ripening of the cloture motion on the Cordray nomination, and passing a few voice vote measures (including an extension of the federal flood insurance program through May of next year).

Looking ahead to today:

The House spends its day on the "Farm Dust Regulation Prevention Act." That's the FDRP, which I think we should pronounce F-Derp. You'll think so, too, once you learn that the bill is designed to prohibit the EPA from issuing a non-existent rule that it reportedly had no intention of considering in the first place.

Shockingly, there are eight amendments pending to this bill to prohibit the non-existent rule which isn't being considered. That one or more of them might create this regulation so that there's actually something to prevent with the bill would seem too much to hope for, but this is America, after all. If we can pass resolutions reaffirming that the national motto is still "In God We Trust," then we're capable of anything we set our minds to, and don't you let anyone tell you different. Yoo-Ess-Ay!

But if you're actually interested in knowing what the amendments are about, you can have a look at how they were described to the Rules Committee. In the meantime, if any of you hear about any other black helicopter conspiracies on your short wave radios, please call 1-800-CONGRESS and suggest a bill to prevent it. You can't be too careful these days.

The Senate will hold a cloture vote on the nomination of Richard Cordray for Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, after which they will resume debate on the motion to proceed to consideration of the Middle Class Tax Cut Act. But that vote won't come until Friday, barring any unanimous consent agreements. And I think we're pretty well beyond that point by now, don't you?

Today's floor and committee schedules appear below the fold.

Recapping yesterday's action:

The House ran through its schedule as expected yesterday, beginning with the passage of the rule for consideration of H.R. 10, the annoyingly-named Regulations From the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act. Afterward, it was on to the suspension bill lineup, getting through nine of the ten scheduled, and passing seven of them by voice vote.

The Senate failed to invoke cloture on the nomination of Caitlyn Halligan to the DC Circuit. No surprise, of course, given the Republicans' dedication to their excessively bitter partisanship. You'll no doubt read a great deal about the passage of the era in which only "extraordinary circumstances," in the words of the Gang of 14's 2005 agreement, would move Senators to oppose cloture on a judicial nomination. But 2005 is ancient history in the Teabagger Era. And in any case, the Gang of 14 is mostly retired, and their agreement was, many forget, limited by its terms to the duration of the 109th Congress.

That, and the completion of the Rule XIV process on the next go-round of the Middle Class Tax Cut Act, round out yesterday's set-up for the day to come.

Looking ahead to today:

The House is set to begin with two motions to go to conference, one on the Military Construction and VA (MilCon) appropriations bill, and one on the defense authorization bill. Yes, the one with the horrible detainee provisions added in the Senate.

Next up, H.R. 10, the REINS Act, and seven amendments to it. By the way, if you were wondering just what the damn thing is supposed to do, take a look at the actual title of the bill:

To amend chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, to provide that major rules of the executive branch shall have no force or effect unless a joint resolution of approval is enacted into law.

It wasn't enough for Republican obstructionists and naysayers to offer up resolutions of disapproval of regulations they didn't like. Now they purport to be able to pass a law requiring resolutions of approval in order for the executive branch to be able to put regulatory rules into effect at all.

But wait, there's more! After that, its back to the suspensions, beginning with that tenth one they skipped over yesterday, and then back to the seven objected to for lack of a quorum when they were considered on Monday.

The Senate has committed to nothing in particular on its schedule today, but you'll recall that the Rule XIV process on the latest version of the Middle Class Tax Cut Act is complete, meaning it's available for the floor. So we might expect a motion to proceed to its consideration. And, quite likely, another filibuster of it as well. Might as well spend the day on that, while they're waiting for the cloture motion to ripen on the Cordray nomination to the CFPB.

Today's floor and committee schedules appear below the fold.

Recapping yesterday's action:

The House met to debate a slate of seven suspension bills from the Natural Resources Committee yesterday, but postponed all votes until today. Actually, all of the votes, which might otherwise have been taken by voice vote, were objected to by Rep. Ben Lujan (D-NM), a quorum not being present. Usually a voice vote will be called for on the Monday suspension bills, and the bill manager will request a recorded vote instead, if desired, and those votes are often postponed until some later, agreed-upon time. But yesterday's procedure was slightly different.

The Senate likewise held no recorded votes today, but did actually pass a few of its scheduled measures by voice vote, including the confirmation of three new federal district court judges. Oh, and they commemorated the 84th birthday of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej. So Happy Birthday to you, Bhumibol! He's a jolly good monarch! (I assume.)

On the procedural front, the Senate also began Rule XIV procedures for bringing a new version of the Middle Class Tax Cut Act (the payroll tax cut extension), authored by Sen. Casey (D-PA), to the floor. That'll be completed today, and we should anticipate an attempt at a motion to proceed to its consideration some time soon.

Looking ahead to today:

Today's floor and committee schedules appear below the fold.

The House takes up a rule for H.R. 10, the first of this week's regulatory freak-out bills, known as the Regulations From the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act. That's a BANANAS score of at least six, I'd say. Quite a stinker, but not the worst I've ever seen. Afterwards, they'll launch into a list of ten new suspension bills plus the seven postponed votes from yesterday. They may not make it all the way through, though. It's become their habit to carry a few postponed votes over for a day or two, seemingly to stretch things out into a week's worth of session days (even if it's not a real week's worth of work).

The Senate schedule hasn't got much beyond a move into executive session and a cloture vote on the nomination of Caitlyn Joan Halligan to the DC Circuit. Republicans are putting up a fight presumably because the DC Circuit is widely considered to be the second most important federal court, since it handles so much federal government business, and as such is also something of a "feeder" court for the Supremes (four current Justices came up from the DC Circuit).

There's nothing on the schedule at this point for the Middle Class Tax Cut Act. But as I mentioned earlier, the Rule XIV procedure should wrap up today, putting it on the schedule and making it eligible for floor consideration. Or at least, eligible for a motion to proceed to consideration, which we should expect Republicans to filibuster, at least for the time being.

Today's floor and committee schedules appear below the fold.

Recapping Last Week in Congress

A typical week in the House last week, with one union-bashing bill, two regulatory panic bills, and one bill killing off federal elections assistance programs and federal funding for presidential races and party conventions. That last bit is interesting, especially in light of speculation that Herman Cain "suspended" rather than ended his presidential bid in an effort to remain eligible to collect federal matching funds. It'd be awfully ironic to see Mr. Bootstraps holding on for a federal bailout, especially in light of the fact that every Republican in the House (save one, Walter Jones of NC) voted to kill that funding off just last week.

The Senate spent Monday through Thursday evening finishing the controversial defense authorization bill (currently under veto threat over the detainee policy provisions), then quickly turned to rejecting motions to proceed to both the Democratic and Republican alternatives on the payroll tax holiday extension.

This Week in Congress

The House calendar currently lists Thursday as its target adjournment date for the first session, though it's not entirely clear that they're really going to be able to wind things up this week without some additional appropriations work that isn't specifically enumerated on the schedule at this point. As of now, there's a lot of end-of-session housekeeping. Eighteen suspension bills, and two Republican regulatory panic bills, one of which has been languishing in committee since January, and has apparently only emerged now at the very end of the session, because Republicans are so super serious about stuff. Seriously. It can reliably be said, I think, that voting for the first time on H.R. 10 in the last week of the session is a sign of some pretty scatterbrained disorganization. And if that's not enough for you, how about genuine paranoid idiocy? The second regulatory panic bill seeks to ban a non-existent EPA rule on "farm dust."

That's where your United States House of Representatives is, folks.

The Senate, as usual, does not have nearly as much detail set in stone about its schedule. So far, they've got an agreement in place for votes on four federal district court judges. There's a fifth judicial nomination pending, but Republicans are apparently still standing in the way of that one, and cloture had to be filed, on which a vote is expected on Tuesday.

There's no clear target adjournment date yet on the Senate side, but again, it's likely there will have to be some additional appropriations work done before anyone can go home, since the last continuing appropriations bill (passed in mid-November) funded some agencies only through December 16th. And of course, the promise on the payroll tax holiday extension was that the Senate would keep trying over and over again to get that to the floor until... something. So... stay tuned!

Full floor and committee schedules are below the fold.

Recapping yesterday's action:

The House passed the Republican bill defunding the Election Assistance Commission and terminating public financing of presidential elections and party conventions on a nearly party-line vote, with just one Republican (Walter Jones of NC) crossing the aisle and no Democratic defections at all.

There were no Republican defections on the passage of the "Regulatory Flexibility Act," however, while 28 Dems strayed on that one.

And the day wrapped up with unanimous passage of the measure to rename a Capitol Visitor Center conference room after Gabriel Zimmerman, the slain aide to Gabrielle Giffords.

The Senate had a busy day, voting-wise, with roll calls on five additional amendments to the defense bill, passage of that bill, and then two failed motions to proceed on the competing party versions of the payroll tax holiday extension.

That, of course, is only the most cursory possible recap of a day full of very contentious debate on some significant issues of constitutional import. But this is a procedural wrap-up, as opposed to a close examination of the substantive issues. So I'll recommend that you read up on the ins and outs of the bill's indefinite detention provisions as covered, perhaps as they can be nowhere else, by emptywheel.

Looking ahead to today:

The House has a short Friday program scheduled, in at 9:00 and out by 1:30. In between, they'll consider a slate of seven amendments to the "Regulatory Accountability Act," then possibly take up a suspension bill (on a Friday, usually against the rules and requiring special dispensation) relating to the looming railroad strike. You'll recall that this strike, and the call for Congressional intervention in it, was the subject of several measures on which the Senate initiated Rule XIV procedures on Wednesday (and completed yesterday).

The Senate is not in session today.

Today's floor and committee schedules appear below the fold.

Recapping yesterday's action:

The House spent most of their day rejecting every amendment to the so-called "Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act," and then passing it on a vote that hewed as nearly to 100% party-line as we've seen in recent years. Only six of the most reactionary Blue Dog Democrats (Barrow, Boren, Cooper, Cuellar, Matheson and McIntyre) could stomach crossing the aisle for this one, even as eight Republicans from heavily unionized states (Grimm, Tim Johnson, Peter King, LaTourette, LoBiondo, Runyan, Chris Smith, and Don Young) crossed right back. Afterward, they passed the rule for today's upcoming bill debates.

The Senate agreed to invoke cloture on the defense authorization bill, setting up a vote on final passage by this afternoon. In addition to the work on the bill, there was further procedural maneuvering today. First, it was the filing of a cloture motion on S. 1917, the payroll tax bill, now moving under the title of the "Middle Class Tax Cut Act," that was entered on the calendar under Rule XIV procedures earlier this week. Now, it seems the move to bring the bill directly to the floor under Rule XIV has unleashed a torrent of copycat (or in some cases retaliatory) responses on measures relating to an ongoing railroad labor dispute, earmark reform, a Republican alternative payroll tax cut proposal, and the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline issue. Rule XIV only gets you as far as the calendar of measures available for potential floor consideration, though. You've still got to get the Senate as a body to agree to take an item up, whether by unanimous consent or by adopting a motion to proceed. And we know what that can mean.

Looking ahead to today:

Aw, who cares? OK, just kidding. (Not really.)

The House takes up H.R. 3463, a bill to end taxpayer funding of presidential election campaigns and party conventions and shutter the Election Assistance Commission, and H.R. 527, the "Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act." I'm still not entirely sure what H.R. 527 does (though you could try to penetrate the CRS summary for yourself, if you'd like), but consider that this is a bill introduced way back in early February (hence the low bill number, 527) by the Chairman of the committee of jurisdiction, the Judiciary Committee. We know that "regulatory flexibility" is a major boogeyman of the right, and we know that House Republicans don't tend to care a whole lot whether they've got their shit together in a technical sense before blasting a bill through on the floor, provided they've got the votes. Still, after all that, this bill took 'em nine moths to get to the floor. Maybe today's debate and vote will reveal a little bit about why that is.

In the Senate, we anticipate completion of the work on the defense bill, and a vote on final passage. The 30-hour post-cloture clock puts the outside time on that at a little after 5pm, though they could always agree unanimously to bump that up if everyone's feeling chipper.

The next item anticipated for debate and votes would be the payroll tax cut extension, but that still has to clear a cloture vote on a motion to proceed, and that could stretch out into Friday, unless, as I said, everyone's feeling extraordinarily friendly. And there's no reason to anticipate that. Though it's possible that an agreement to allow side-by-side consideration of a Republican alternative to the Middle Class Tax Cut Act could help grease the skids. Maybe. We'll see.

Today's floor and committee schedules appear below the fold.

Recapping yesterday's action:

A routine Tuesday for the House, meaning that they spent just a few minutes voting on three suspension bills.

The Senate continued its debate on the defense authorization bill, and held two roll call votes on amendments yesterday, both of which were defeated. The first was Mark Udall's (D-CO) amendment striking the detainee provisions of the bill, the second, Rand Paul's (R-KY) amendment to repeal the 2002 Iraq War AUMF. At this point, I can only recommend that you read emptywheel to decode this mess.

Looking ahead to today:

The House has one more suspension bill to take care of today, this one to designate room HVC 215 of the Capitol Visitor Center as the `Gabriel Zimmerman Meeting Room'. Zimmerman was, of course, the Director of Community Outreach for Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), and was killed in the Jan. 8th assassination attempt.

After that brief respite, it's back to the partisanship, with the latest union-bashing legislation from the Republican side, H.R. 3094, aimed at reversing the August rulings from the National Labor Relations Board on collective bargaining elections that would actually have made it possible for people to maybe join a union if they wanted to. Can't have that!

The Senate will continue its consideration of defense authorization, with a cloture vote on the bill scheduled for 11:00 a.m. There are still a number of amendments pending, and I'd expect to see quite a few votes on them between tomorrow morning and Thursday afternoon, the soonest the 30-hour post-cloture clock can run out, assuming a successful vote today. I suppose that if cloture fails, they could consider shifting attention to the payroll tax cut extension bill instead, unless they think that giving attention to a few more amendments on the defense bill would shift some cloture votes on a follow-up attempt. Tune in and find out!

Today's floor and committee schedules appear below the fold.

Recapping yesterday's action:

The House was not in session yesterday.

The Senate debated a few of the pending amendments to the defense authorization bill, confirmed Christopher Droney to the 2nd Circuit bench, began the Rule XIV process to bring the payroll tax cut extension bill to the floor, and filed for cloture on the defense bill.

Looking ahead to today:

The House gets its traditional late start on a nothingburger of a day, coming back on a Tuesday afternoon and delaying votes until 6:30 p.m. on a series of four suspension bills.

The Senate will continue its consideration of the defense bill and the pending amendments, letting the clock run on ripening the cloture motion filed today, which could bring us to a vote as early as Wednesday morning, but then (if successful) up to 30 more hours of debate after that. The tax cut extension bill won't be ready for Rule XIV consideration until Wednesday, but if they hope to get to that soon, they'll have to bring it up either before voting on cloture, or only if cloture on the defense bill fails, because if that cloture motion succeeds, then the defense bill remains the pending business until it's completed, and that backs the tax bill up into late Thursday or even Friday. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Today's floor and committee schedules appear below the fold.