House and Senate Cloakroom: February 6 – February 10, 2012

Josh Robbins / February 06, 2012

House Cloakroom: February 6 – February 10

Analysis:  This week the House the will consider legislation to sell off civilian property it owns, institute a line-item veto and ban congressional insider trading.  The week will begin with the Civilian Property Realignment Act, which would create a BRAC-like process to determine the usefulness of government owned property and which of those properties can be sold off.  The Expedited Legislative Line-Item Veto and Recessions Act would allow the President to propose specific recessions and have those voted on by Congress in an expedited process.  Finally, the House will consider the STOCK Act that was sent over by the Senate.  The bill would ban trading securities and commodities based on non-public information available to Members of Congress and their staff.  There will likely be an effort in the House to expand this legislation to cover the executive branch as well.

 Major Floor Action:

• HR 1734 – Civilian Property Realignment Act
• HR 3521 – Expedited Legislative Line-Item Veto and Rescissions Act
• HR 3581 – Budget and Accounting Transparency Act
• S 2038 – STOCK Act

Major Committee Action: 

• The House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a markup of a bill to authorize the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline. (HR 3548)
• The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Legislative Branch will hold a hearing on “Fiscal 2013 Appropriations: Legislative Branch.”
• The House Education and Workforce Committee will hold a hearing on the “NLRB Recess Appointments.”
• The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology will hold a hearing on “Cybersecurity and Private Sector Response.”
• The House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit will hold a hearing on “CFPB Transparency Legislation.”

Senate Cloakroom: February 6 – February 10

Analysis: The Senate will take up two transportation authorization measures this week.  The first will be an FAA authorization that passed in the House last week.  This is expected to easily move through the Senate.  The second will be a more controversial highway authorization bill.  The Senate bill proposes a two year extension of the current authorization, which expires at the end of March, at a higher funding level than the expected revenues from the federal gas tax.  The federal gas tax was intended to be, more or less, a user fee for the highways that would pay for maintenance.  Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), Chairman of the Finance Committee, has proposed additional tax increases to cover the difference, but his proposals still fall short of the $13 billion gap in funding levels.  This bill is also much different than the version expected in the House, which also has higher spending levels, but attempts to use energy revenues to pay for the gap and includes additional changes to the highway program and the way the funding is allocated.

Major Floor Action: 

• HR 658 – FAA Air Transportation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act
• S 1813 – MAP-21 (Highway Authorization Bill)

Major Committee Action:

• The Senate Budget Committee will hold a hearing on the “Monetary and Fiscal Policy Outlook.”
• The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a markup of a bill allowing Supreme Court proceedings to be televised. (S 1945)
• The Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on the “State of the Housing Market.”