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The Week Ahead...
Sunday, March
15, 2009
4:45 PM
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The
House this week is scheduled to take up the Generations Invigorating
Volunteerism and Education Act (H.R.
1388), one of President Obama's top legislative priorities this
year. In
its current form, the bill aims to increase the number of volunteers
nationwide from 75,000 to 250,000, according to a
summary released by House Education & Labor Committee Democrats.
The legislation would also establish a Clean Energy Corps to
encourage energy efficiency and conservation measures, and a Veterans
Service Corps to enhance services for veterans.
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"I hope
we can quickly send this bill to the president for his signature,"
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said last week.
In
addition, the House is slated to consider the Reducing Information
Control Designations Act (H.R.
1323), legislation that would standardize and limit the use of
information control designations in order to boost information
sharing across the government, and enhance the availability of
information to the public. Also on tap are two original bills that
would extend programs under the Small Business Administration and
Federal Aviation Administration. No
votes are expected in the House on Friday.
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The
Senate on Monday will vote on Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-NV)
motion to proceed to
H.R.146, the new vehicle for the omnibus lands bill that contains
various authorizing provisions regarding national wilderness and water
conservation along with research and monitoring initiatives. The vote
is scheduled for 5:30 PM and will require 60 votes to move to debate
on the measure.
The
chamber
easily passed the lands legislation (S.
22) in January, but the House fell two votes shy of clearing the
bill last week on a
"suspension"
vote, which required a two-thirds majority.
"We are
hopeful that a number of your members will conclude that maybe they
should have voted for it," Hoyer said on Thursday, referring to House
Republicans. He added that the leadership may again bring the lands
bill up through the suspension calendar or through the regular order.
If the Senate passes H.R. 146 this week, House Democratic leaders will
also have the option of moving the bill to conference.
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On the
committee front, the House Oversight and Government Reform panel will
hold a hearing Thursday to discuss preventative measures with respect
to wasteful and fraudulent spending under the $787 billion
American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act (P.L. 111-5). The hearing will focus
on the organizations and officials responsible for overseeing economic
stimulus dollars as well as plans for audits and
investigations to identify and prosecute fraud in stimulus programs.
Earl Devaney, Chairman of the Recovery Act Transparency and
Accountability Board, is slated to testify. The hearing is scheduled
to begin at 10:00 AM in 2154 Rayburn. |
© Copyright
Capitol Hill Reports, Inc. (2009). No claim to original government
works.
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