Blog - This Week in Congress - Markup Madness

All eyes this week will be on two big committee mark-ups – health care reform in the Senate Finance Committee and financial regulatory reform in the House Financial Services Committee.

Finalizing nearly three weeks of mark-up and many months of behind-the-scenes negotiating, the Senate Finance Committee will meet today at 10:00 to take one final vote on their version of health care reform legislation. The Finance Committee is significantly more conservative than the Senate as a whole, and their bill, the America’s Health Future Act of 2009, is the most conservative of the five health care reform bills moving through Congress. It’s the only one that doesn’t contain some form of a public option and its subsidies to help low-income people buy insurance are lower than any of the others. But that’s what it takes to get a bill out of that Committee, and all indications are that the votes are lined up for the bill to pass tomorrow.

The second big event will take place in the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday. After months of debate legislative re-drafting, they will begin their mark-up session of two pieces of legislation that will eventually be included in a package to overhaul regulations in teh finance industry as requested by President Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. The first bill, which only exists at this point as a draft in PDF form, would beef up regulations in the over-the-counter derivatives market, which is where some of the big TARP-receiving finance companies suffered their biggest losses. The second bill they will take up is the Consumer Financial Protection Agency Act of 2009, which would establish a new federal agency to help protect consumers from finance companies in day-to-day transactions, like using credit cards, taking out an auto loan, or using a service to get information about your credit score. I’ve posted a quick explainer of the bill here, laying out the agency’s responsibilities and authorities with links to specific provisions in the bill text so you can drill down for more detail.

As always, there will be legislation on the floor of both chambers as well. Below is a complete list with links to the bill pages on OpenCongress so you can read the legislative texts, find news and blog coverage about them, leave comments, contact your members of Congress, and much more.

In the House of Representatives:

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2009

On Tuesday, the House will meet at 12:30 p.m. for Morning Hour and 2:00 p.m. for legislative business with votes postponed until 6:30 p.m.

 

Suspensions (16 Bills)

1. H.R. 3689 – To provide for an extension of the legislative authority of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Inc. to establish a Vietnam Veterans Memorial visitor center (Rep. Rahall – Natural Resources)
2. H.R. 1593 – To amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate a segment of Illabot Creek in Skagit County, Washington, as a component of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System (Rep. Larsen – Natural Resources)
3. H.R. 3537 – Junior Duck Stamp Conservation and Design Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (Rep. Ortiz – Natural Resources)
4. H.R. 3433 – To amend the North American Wetlands Conservation Act to establish requirements regarding payment of the non-Federal share of the costs of wetlands conservation projects in Canada that are funded under that Act (Rep. Wittman – Natural Resources)
5. H.R. 3476 – To reauthorize the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area Citizen Advisory Commission (Rep. Garrett – Natural Resources)
6. H.R. 2877 – To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 76 Brookside Avenue in Chester, New York, as the “1st Lieutenant Louis Allen Post Office” (Rep. Hall (NY) – Oversight and Government Reform)
7. H.Res. 209 – Commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Daughters of Penelope, a preeminent international women’s association and affiliate organization of the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association (Rep. Maloney – Oversight and Government Reform)
8. H.R. 3319 – To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 440 South Gulling Street in Portola, California, as the “Army Specialist Jeremiah Paul McCleery Post Office Building” (Rep. McClintock – Oversight and Government Reform)
9. H.Res. 791 – Congratulating the Aldine Independent School District in Harris County, Texas, on winning the 2009 “Broad Prize for Urban Education” (Rep. Gene Green – Education and Labor)
10. H.Res. 659 – Congratulating Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., on 98 years of serving local communities and enriching the lives of collegiate men throughout the Nation (Rep. Hastings (FL) – Education and Labor)
11. H.Res. 730 – Honoring the 100th anniversary of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse (Rep. Kind – Education and Labor)
12. H.Res. 768 – Expressing support for the designation of the month of October as “National Work and Family Month” (Rep. McCarthy (NY) – Education and Labor)
13. H.Res.___ - Expressing support for students to learn about Christopher Columbus (Rep. Thompson (PA) – Education and Labor)
14. H.R. 1327 – Iran Sanctions Enabling Act of 2009 (Rep. Frank – Financial Services)
15. H.R. 621 – Girl Scouts USA Centennial Commemorative Coin Act (Rep. Kingston – Financial Services)
16. H.R. 3606 – Credit CARD Technical Corrections Act of 2009 (Rep. Welch – Financial Services)

 

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2009 AND THE BALANCE OF THE WEEK

On Wednesday and Thursday, the House will meet at 10:00 a.m. for legislative business. On Friday, the House will meet at 9:00 a.m. for legislative business.

 

Suspensions (17 Bills)

1. H.Res. 408 – Recognizing the vital role family readiness volunteers play in supporting service members and their families (Rep. Davis (CA) – Armed Services)
2. H.Res. 754 – Honoring the citizen-soldiers of the National Guard of the State of Pennsylvania, including the 56th Brigade Combat Team (Stryker) of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard on its return to the United States from deployment in Iraq (Rep. Holden – Armed Services)
3. H.Res. 445 – Recognizing 100 years of military aviation and expressing continued support for military aviators of the United States Armed Forces (Rep. Olson – Armed Services)
4. H.Res. 627 – Honoring the citizen-soldiers of the National Guard of the State of Washington, including the 81st Brigade Combat Team (Heavy) of the Washington Army National Guard (Rep. Smith (WA) – Armed Services)
5. H.Res. 810 - Expressing condolences to the citizens of Indonesia and support for the Government of Indonesia in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake that struck the island of Sumatra (Rep. Burton – Foreign Affairs)
6. H.Res. 816 - Mourning the loss of life caused by the earthquakes and tsunamis that occurred on September 29, 2009, in American Samoa and Samoa (Rep. Faleomavaega – Foreign Affairs)
7. H.Res. 786 – Commemorating the canonization of Father Damien de Veuster, SS.CC. to sainthood (Rep. Hirono – Foreign Affairs)
8. H.Res. 266 – Celebrating 90 years of United States-Polish diplomatic relations, during which Poland has proven to be an exceptionally strong partner to the United States in advancing freedom around the world (Rep. Lipinski – Foreign Affairs)
9. H.Res. 603 – Recognizing the 140th anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi (Rep. Ros-Lehtinen – Foreign Affairs)
10. H.Res. 800 – Expressing sympathy for the citizens of the Philippines dealing with Tropical Storm Ketsana and Typhoon Parma (Rep. Speier – Foreign Affairs)
11. H.R. 3371 – Airline Safety and Pilot Training Improvement Act of 2009 (Rep. Costello – Transportation and Infrastructure)
12. H.R. 2423 – To designate the Federal building and United States courthouse located at 1300 Victoria Street in Laredo, Texas, as the “George P. Kazen Federal Building and United States Courthouse”, and to designate the jury room in that Federal building and United States courthouse as the “Marcel C. Notzon II Jury Room” (Rep. Cuellar – Transportation and Infrastructure)
13. H.Res. 465 – Recognizing the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway Association on the occasion of its 10th anniversary (Rep. Brown (SC) – Transportation and Infrastructure)
14. H.R. 2651 – Maritime Workforce Development Act (Rep. Cummings – Transportation and Infrastructure)
15. H.Con.Res. 138 – Recognizing the 40th anniversary of the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas (Rep. Jackson-Lee – Transportation and Infrastructure)
16. H.R. 1700 – National Women’s History Museum Act of 2009 (Rep. Maloney – Transportation and Infrastructure)
17. H.Res. 719 – Commending Russ Meyer on his induction into the National Aviation Hall of Fame (Rep. Tiahrt – Transportation and Infrastructure)

 

H.R. 2442 – Bay Area Regional Water Recycling Program Expansion Act of 2009 (Rep. George Miller – Natural Resources) (Subject to a Rule)

 

Conference Report on H.R. 2892 - Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2010 (Rep. Price (NC) – Appropriations) (Subject to a Rule)

 

Possible Consideration of the Conference Report on H.R. 2996 - Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010 (Rep. Dicks – Appropriations) (Subject to a Rule)

 

In the Senate:

[Tuesday] Convenes: 2:00pm 
Morning Business until 3:00pm.
3:00pm, resume H.R.2847, Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations.
3:00pm filing deadline for first degree amendments to H.R.2847.
5:30pm cloture vote on the committee reported substitute amendment to H.R.2847.

As always, Congress Matters has prepared the full committee schedule for the week.

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