|
Morning Briefing: House
Approves 13-Week Unemployment Extension
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
8:00 AM |
|
The House yesterday overwhelmingly approved a 13-week
extension of unemployment benefits
for states with unemployment rates at or exceeding 8.5 percent. The chamber voted
331-83
in favor of the legislation
(H.R.
3548), clearing the measure for Senate action.
The long-term unemployment rate is at an all-time high since
measuring began in 1948, according to House Majority Leader
Steny Hoyer's (D-MD) office, with 300,000 jobless workers
expected to run out of unemployment compensation by the end of
September. |
|
|
The House yesterday
also passed legislation authorizing
$214 million in discretionary funding over five years for
coral reef conservation
programs at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) and the Department of the Interior
(H.R.
860), and a bill aimed at strengthening the authority of
NOAA to enforce fisheries laws
and combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing by
foreign vessels
(H.R.
1080).
Today the House is scheduled to take up:
-
Defense Production Act
Reauthorization (S.
1677) -
Passed by the Senate last week, S. 1677 aims to modernize the
president's authority to require companies to set aside their
commercial business obligations and fulfill government
contracts first in order to meet national defense needs, among
other provisions.
-
Small Business Act Extension
(H.R.
3614) - Provides for a one-month extension -- until
October 31, 2009 -- of programs under the
Small Business Act and the Small Business Investment Act of
1958.
-
Santa Cruz Valley National Heritage
Area Act (H.R.
324) -
Establishes the Santa Cruz Valley National
Heritage Area in Arizona, and requires the Santa Cruz Valley
Heritage Alliance, Inc. (the local coordinating entity for the
area) to prepare and submit a management plan.
|
|
The Senate
yesterday
continued debate on the
FY 2010
Interior and Environment appropriations
bill (H.R.
2996), legislation that would fund programs within the
Department of the Interior and Environmental Protection Agency
during the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, 2009. The bill
provides a total of $32.1 billion in discretionary funding,
$225 million below the administration's request and the
House-passed level.
The Senate has adopted the
following floor amendments thus far:
-
Johanns - Prohibits
funding for the
Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now
(ACORN).
-
Feinstein
- Earmarks $250,000 for the Smithsonian Institution to
participate in activities under the Civil Rights History
Project Act of 2009.
-
Barrasso - Prohibits the use of wildland fire management
stimulus funds in the District of Columbia.
-
Reid
- Provides for an evaluation of the aquifers in the area of
the Jungo Disposal Site in Humboldt County, Nevada.
Several amendments remain pending, including a
proposal by Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) that would require the
EPA administrator to conduct a study on black carbon
emissions.
|
|
The Senate Finance Committee yesterday began consideration of Chairman Max Baucus' (D-MT)
health care overhaul proposal.
Baucus modified his
original mark to include several amendments
offered by senators from both parties, including a reduction in the
maximum penalty for individuals who fail to meet the requirement to
obtain health insurance, and the establishment of a $75 million
demonstration project that would allow Medicaid funding to be
directed to nonpublicly owned and operated psychiatric hospitals for
some Medicaid beneficiaries. Debate on additional amendments, which
number in the hundreds, are
expected throughout the week. The text of the chairman's mark, as
modified, can be viewed
here. Get the summary
here. |
© Copyright
Capitol Hill Reports, Inc. (2009). No claim to original government
works.
|