Congressional Hearings – Week of 12-8-13

This may be the last week that both Houses of Congress are in session this year and there are a lot of things yet to be done. This only includes one hearing of potential specific interest to readers of this blog and that is an oversight hearing on the Coast Guard. There are a couple of on-going Conference Committee meetings that may or may not be meeting this week.

Coast Guard Hearing

The Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will be holding a hearing Wednesday looking at “Coast Guard Mission Execution: How is the Coast Guard Meeting Its Mission Goals?” No witness list has yet been published so I can only guess if the MTSA program will be addressed at this hearing; probably not.

Senate Floor Action

The Senate may or may not get its collective act together and take action on S 1197, the FY 2014 DOD Authorization bill. This got caught up in the application of the nuclear option on nomination filibusters before Thanksgiving. We may see some interesting legislative shenanigans used to get this passed before the House and Senate adjourn for the year.

House Floor Action

If conference committees can complete their work on time then the House (and Senate) may get a chance to take final action on a couple of interesting bills this week, all of them dealing with spending or authorizations. The Ag Authorization bill (HR 2642) and a Budget Resolution (H. Con. Res 25) may get done, but I’m not holding my breath. And of course S 1197 may come their way yet under one bill number or another.

And, of course, we are likely to see a new continuing resolution introduced this week.