Cloakroom: Hurry Up and Wait

Josh Robbins / December 02, 2012

House Cloakroom: December 3 – December 7

Analysis: The House has returned from its Thanksgiving vacation, when Members undoubtedly ate well and enjoyed numerous football games, to do… more of the same. They spent the most of the past week naming post offices until they finally got around to an immigration measure on Friday. All of this is a function of the ongoing fiscal cliff negotiations—negotiations that seem to be going poorly after the Administration presented an offer composed almost entirely of tax increases and an infinite debt ceiling increase. All of the back and forth is likely to continue through this week, and the House looks like it will take little legislative action in the process. In fact, as of this writing there is exactly one bill listed for consideration on the floor this week.

Major Floor Action:

• HR 5817 – Eliminate Privacy Notice Confusion Act

Major Committee Action:

• The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will hold a hearing on the “Response to Hurricane Sandy.”
• The House Science, Space and Technology Committee will hold a hearing on “NASA Outlook.”
• The House Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing on the “Impact of Dodd-Frank Act: Volcker Rule.”

Senate Cloakroom: December 3 – December 7

Analysis: In an odd role reversal, the Senate has actually been working on a bill since it returned from the Thanksgiving recess. The Senate spent last week working through the annual Defense Authorization bill. This week, the Senate will take up a problematic treaty, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This is a flawed treaty that would only serve to allow international experts to intervene in an issue that America has already dealt with in the Americans with Disabilities Act. More from The Heritage Foundation can be found here. 36 Senators have already signed a letter pledging not to vote for any treaties in the lame duck session. If they stick to their promise, this treaty should fail to be ratified next week.

Major Floor Action:

Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Major Committee Action:

• The Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on “Oversight of FHA.”
• The Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs will hold a hearing on “Developments in Mali.”