House and Senate Analysis: March 13-19, 2011

Analysis provided by Heritage Action.

House Analysis: March 13-19, 2011

With the current short CR is set to expire on Friday, March 18^th the House will be focused on yet another short term extension.  The plan put forward by Republican leadership cuts an additional $6 billion dollars over three weeks, but again fails to include important policy riders like defunding Obamcare, blocking implementation of the EPA’s cap-and-trade plan, and denying federal funding for Planned Parenthood.  Failure to pass a either a short term or a longer-term extension by Friday would lead to a government “shutdown,” which Heritage explains is more like a government slow down.

Major Floor Action:

• H. J. Res 48: Further Continuing Appropriations Amendments, 2011

Major Committee Action:

• General David Petraeus will testify in front of the House Armed Services Committee on the recent developments in Afghanistan on Wednesday.
• The House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a hearing on “The American Energy Initiative” focusing on oil supplies, gasoline prices, and jobs in the Gulf of Mexico.
• The House Ways and Means Committee will hold it first in a series of hearings on the pending free trade agreements with South Korea, Panama, and Columbia.

Senate Analaysis: March 13-19, 2011

The Senate begins the week with a vote on a judicial nomination and a cloture vote on a small business bill on Monday afternoon.  Late last week, ten Republican Members (Senators Vitter, Paul, Ensign, Toomey, Rubio, Wicker, Sessions, Lee, DeMint and Ayotte) sent a letter to Leader Reid announcing their opposition to any bills that are not fiscal in nature, so it’s not clear if Senator Reid will have enough support to move to the small business legislation on Monday. If cloture is not invoked, Reid will have to figure out what legislation to move to while waiting for the House to complete their work on a new CR (a move that would be complicated in light of the letter from the ten Republican members).

As a reminder, the short term CR is set to expire on Friday, March 18, so both chambers will have to act before then to avoid a government shutdown.

Major Floor Action:

• S. 493: SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Act of 2011

Major Committee Action:

• General David Petraeus will testify on the situation in Afghanistan in the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday, March 15.
• Also on March 15, the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee will hold a hearing to discuss the future of the housing finance market.
• The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hold a closed hearing on Wednesday to discuss the situation in Libya.
• A hearing titled “Health Reform: Lessons Learned During the First Year” will be held in the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday.