Congressional Hearings – Week of 10-31-11

After two weeks of alternating working in Washington and staying home, both the House and Senate will be in session this week. That doesn’t mean that there will be any committee work on chemical or cyber security issues; there is nothing currently scheduled for either topic. There is the possibility, however, that the House Rules Committee will announce a change to that shortly.

Coast Guard Authorization

Late Friday night the House Rules Committee added HR 2838, Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2011, to the list of bills that might be considered on the floor of the House this week, though it is not yet on the Majority Leader’s Weekly Schedule. The Rules Committee does not yet have a hearing scheduled to formulate the rule for the consideration of HR 2838, but they have asked Members to submit proposed amendments by 10:00 am Thursday.

It seems likely to me that a Rules Committee hearing could be called for Thursday evening with a floor vote on adopting the rule possible Friday. I doubt that the bill itself would actually come to the floor until next week.

Spending Bills

With the November 18^th deadline for a spending bill fast approaching the only work officially being done on appropriations bills is the Senate consideration of HR 2112, Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2012. The Senate adopted the Inouye substitute language on the 21^st that expanded the bill to cover Commerce, Justice, Science, and related agencies (Division B) as well Transportation, Housing And Urban Development, and related agencies. That means that some chemical safety/security issues and cyber security issues could make their way into this bill as consideration continues this week.

BTW: Rumors are circulating that the House Appropriations Committee is working on another CR that would continue spending until Christmas; not unexpected.