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Looking ahead to the week in Congress, our colleagues at Congresspedia have put together an overview of the action in the Senate. First up is the resurrection of the immigration bill (formerly S.1348, the second most-viewed bill on OpenCongress), now dubbed S.1639 -- Sen. Mel Martinez (R-FL) is pictured at right answering questions about the bill. Second is the Employee Free Choice Act, passed in the House as H.R.800, the fifth most-viewed bill on the site, introduced in the Senate as S.1041. Thi...

In Between rounds of immigration debate, The Senate managed to score a huge victory by passing a bill to update U.S. energy policy: >The Senate passed a sweeping energy legislation package last night that would mandate the first substantial change in the nation's vehicle fuel-efficiency law since 1975 despite opposition from auto companies and their Senate supporters. > >After three days of intense debate and complex maneuvering, Democratic leaders won passage of the bill shortly before midn...

* A new Newsweek poll finds Congress's approval rating low, but a lot higher than the 14% reported yesterday by a Gallup poll. According to the poll, "Only 25 percent of Americans approve of the job Congress is doing." More here. * "Robert C. Byrd, the most senior Democratic senator from West Virginia, has just cast his 18,000th vote in the Senate. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is now delivering the hagiography. The gold watch will follow." - The Crypt * "The House aims to sla...

A new Gallup poll indicates that Congress's approval rating is at 14%. But if the Senate can pass the energy bill they've been considering, that number will almost certainly go up. >"All the right pieces are floating around," said Dave Hamilton, director for global warming and energy projects at the Sierra Club. "This Congress will be judged to a large extent on what happens at this moment." The bill would recoup lost taxes from big oil companies, protect consumers from gasoline price gaug...

* "Just 14% of Americans have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in Congress. This 14% Congressional confidence rating is the all-time low for this measure, which Gallup initiated in 1973. The previous low point for Congress was 18% at several points in the period of time 1991 to 1994." - USA Today via Instapundit * "The Redistricting Game is designed to educate, engage, and empower citizens around the issue of political redistricting. Currently, the political system in most states a...

The Senate will vote today on how far their energy legislation will go to raise fuel efficiency standards for automobiles. Philip Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust, has called the vote, "the most important vote the Senate will cast in terms of reducing the nation's dependence on foreign oil and providing consumers with some relief at the pump." As it stands, the bill calls for the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for passenger cars and light trucks to be rais...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D, NV) let the immigration bill die once before. But now that it's coming back, he's trying hard to make sure that it passes. I reported last week about a deal he had brokered, guaranteeing 22 senators a vote on their amendments in exchange for their votes to end debate on the bill. When Reid pulled the bill from the floor last time, it was because the vote to end debate was rejected by a margin of 15 votes, meaning that the bill's opponents had successf...

Before the Senate can go back to working on immigration, they have to finish debating an energy bill that holds key Democratic proposals for improving energy productivity and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Two contentious issues still need to be resolved: Tougher Fuel Efficiency Standards The energy bill will raise fuel efficiency standards for automobile manufacturers -- it calls for the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for passenger cars and light trucks to be raised f...

After forcing Democrats to include all earmarks in 2008 spending bills as they go through the House, Republicans scored yet another victory. Today, while debating the first of this year's twelve spending bills -- which happened only after Democrats capitulated to Republicans on the earmark dustup -- the Republican minority approved an amendment in a display of solidarity against granting amnesty to illegal immigrants. >The U.S. House of Representatives this morning voted to withhold federa...

* Today on CQ Radio, Ed Morrissey interviewed Senator John Ensign (R, NV), who disputed he notion that a deal had been reached on resurrecting the Senate immigration bill. * "Legislation passed by Congress would require all federal agencies in a state to comply with a governor's request that they fly their flags at half-staff to honor a fallen service member." - The AP. Learn more about the bill here. * LOUIS - "the Library Of Unified Information Sources, a project of the Sunlight Found...

Looks like everyone's least-favorite Immigration bill will be given another chance: >Senate leaders, under pressure from pro-immigration groups and facing a determined push by President Bush, agreed last night to bring a controversial overhaul of the nation's immigration laws back to the Senate floor as early as next week. > >The bipartisan negotiators working on the immigration bill whittled hundreds of amendments down to a package of 11 amendments from Republicans and another 11 from Democ...

It appears that House leaders are ready to strike a deal on how to move forward with considering spending bills for fiscal year 2008. Republicans this week have stalled floor debate on the first of these bills -- which number 12 in total -- because, they say, they want all earmarks that are going to be included in the final bill to be included in the bills as the House debates them. Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D, WI) had been planning to withhold the earmarks until after the H...

* "The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee approved legislation Tuesday that would require federal agencies to make their buildings more environmentally friendly by substantially cutting carbon emissions." - GovExec. Learn more about the bill here. * S.1257, "a bill to provide the District of Columbia a voting seat and the State of Utah an additional seat in the House of Representatives," was approved 9-1 today by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs....

This morning, the House approved a which bill the AP has called "the most important gun control act since Congress banned some assault weapons in 1994, the last year Democrats controlled the House." The bill, H.R.2640, is designed to improve state reporting to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System in order to close data gaps relating to arrest records and mental health standing. Seung-Hui Cho, the Virginia Tech gunman who killed 32 students in April, was barred from buying firea...

After failing to pass an immigration bill, the Senate is moving on to something even more challenging: a comprehensive reform of U.S. energy policy. The energy bill they are beginning to debate bears some resemblance to the immigration bill. It has a lot of separate and movable parts, its existence relies on keeping its provisions balanced, and it's going to face an onslaught of controversial floor amendments. Consider what former senator and current Chrysler lobbyist John Breaux has said ab...