House and Senate Cloakroom: July 26-30, 2010

Maggie Piggott / July 25, 2010

House Cloakroom: July 26-30, 2010

Analysis:

One week remains in the House before members head home for the August recess. There is a variety of legislation that could be coming to the floor, but the main theme of the week will be attempts by the House leadership to pass the FY 2010 War Funding Supplemental to provide emergency funds to military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Senate late last Thursday evening passed the scaled back request they had originally passed in May of $58.8 billion and rejected the House approved version that included domestic spending for programs ranging from bailout money to the states to Pell Grant extensions. The House will more than likely pass the version sent over from the Senate and attempt to find other legislative vehicles to tag the domestic spending to even though they have found no way to offset that spending.

House Appropriations moved forward last week on the first of two appropriation bills to reach the House floor this week. The Military Construction/Veteran Affairs and Transportation/Housing & Urban Development appropriation bills will possibly be considered.

Finally, the House will likely consider legislation in response to the BP oil spill. There are three different bills that could reach the floor involving a variety of energy and safety proposals. The Obama administration’s current deepwater drilling moratorium has resulted in a huge decline of approved shallow-water drilling permits, thus placing more negative economic impacts on an already hard-hit area.

Major Floor Action:

• H.R. 4899 – FY 2010 War Funding Supplemental
• H.R. 5822 – Military Construction-Veteran Appropriations Bill
• Transportation-HUD Appropriations Bill (Text not available)
• “Oil Spill” Legislation – H.R. 3534 – CLEAR Act, H.R. 5629 – Oil Spill Accountability and Environmental Protection Act, and H.R. 5626 – Blowout Prevention Act could all possibly come to the floor next week.

Major Committee Action:

• The House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a briefing on Turkey’s new foreign policy direction and its implications.
• The House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness will hold a hearing on “Surface Fleet Readiness”. (more…)