House and Senate Cloakroom: January 30 – February 3

Josh Robbins / January 30, 2012

House Cloakroom: January 30 – February 3

Analysis: This week will be a busy week on the House floor.  They will begin today by voting to send the FAA reauthorization to conference.  The houses are still working to resolve dispute over a pro-labor ruling recently made by the National Mediation Board.  The most significant bill on the floor this week will be a repeal of the CLASS Act.  The CLASS Act is a long term care entitlement program that was included in Obamacare.  Recently the Department of Health and Human Services announced they would not implement the program at this time because the structure was fiscally unsustainable.  The week will wrap up with votes on two budget process reform bills regarding the budget baseline and dynamic scoring.

Major Floor Action:

• Motion to go to conference on HR 658 – FAA Air Transportation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act
• HR 1173 – Fiscal Responsibility and Retirement Security Act (CLASS Act Repeal)
• HR 3582 – Pro-Growth Budgeting Act
• HR 3578 – Baseline Reform Act

Major Committee Action

• The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will hold a hearing on the “Impact of Presidential Recess Appointments.”
• The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy will hold a hearing on the “Report of the Commission on America’s Nuclear Future.”
• The House Budget Committee will hold a hearing on the “Budget and Economic Outlook.”
• The House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection and Security Technology will hold a markup of “Cybersecurity and Information Sharing Legislation.”
• The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will hold a markup of the “Surface Transportation Authorization.”

Senate Cloakroom: January 30 – February 3

Analysis: The Senate will start the week today with a vote on the STOCK Act.  This bill would make it a crime for Members of Congress and their staff to make securities or commodities trades on legislative information that is not released to the public relating to a particular industry or company.  Once work on this bill has finished the Senate will likely spend the remainder of the week on the Liberman/Collins Postal Reform Bill.  The returns $7 billion dollars to the post office that they have paid into their retirement accounts in order to keep them afloat.  The Postal Service has already said they are unable to make their next $5.5 billion dollar payment and that deadline has been repeatedly delayed in last years numerous continuing resolutions.

Major Floor Action:

• S 2038 – STOCK Act
• S 1789 – 21^st Century Postal Service Act

Major Committee Action

• The Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing on “Extenders and Tax Overhaul.”
• The Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on “Consumer Bureau Oversight.”
• The Senate Budget Committee will hold a hearing on the “Outlook for the Eurozone.”
• The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing on the “Report of Commission on America’s Nuclear Future.”