Congresspedia Preview: This Week in Congress (Dec. 7 - 14, 2007)

Submitted by Conor Kenny on

This week: Time is running out to pass the (already overdue) federal budget (including funding for Iraq and Afghanistan), energy and climate legislation, fixing the Alternative Minimum Tax, the Farm Bill and hearings on the erased waterboarding videotapes.

The federal budget and Iraq funding:Lawmakers are quickly running out of time to pass the 2008 federal budget as the last continuing resolution (which continues funding the government at 2007 levels) will expire at the end of the week, and a looming holiday recess is fast approaching.

The House and Senate will take up an omnibus spending package this week that will contain the funding for the remaining 15 cabinet departments and other agencies comprising the federal government (the Defense Department spending bill was approved last month). Democrats – who had already reduced the amount of spending contained in the package over President Bush's budget request from $22 billion to $11 billion – are planning to sweeten the deal further by including funds for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The last time House Democrats offered an Iraq spending bill, they included language requiring troop reductions, with a full withdrawal complete by December 2008. That bill was defeated in the Senate, where it fell short of the 60 votes required to end debate and move to a vote.

The Democratic plan is now to get the ball rolling in the House, introducing a spending package with $30 billion in funding for Afghanistan, in a move designed to appease anti-war progressives who want to end the Iraq war but one that is ultimately fairly empty, since everyone acknowledges that the Department of Defense will likely shift that money to continue funding Iraq. The Senate will then introduce an amendment including as much as $70 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan.

By cutting the strings to withdrawal from the Iraq funding, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid hope to win over enough Republicans to override a presidential veto. However, though details of the spending package haven’t been disclosed, President Bush has already threatened to veto the measure.

Hearings on the erased waterboarding tapes: Following the revelation last week that the CIA had destroyed the taped interrogations of terrorism detainees, Congressional Democrats are looking to hold hearings on the matter. CIA Director Michael Hayden is set to appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee Tuesday.

Alternative Minimum Tax:The two chambers are considering different proposals to extend an exemption for the alternative minimum tax. Adopted in 1969, the tax was supposed to ensure a level of taxation for families who had regularly paid little or no taxes. Since it was not indexed to inflation, the number of taxpayers affected by the alternative minimum tax has increased, including many middle-class families. Several exemptions have been passed since the AMT was enacted, with the latest expiring this year. Twenty-three million Americans might have to pay the AMT next year if a fix is not approved.

Energy and climate change legislation:Another cloture vote is planned on the CLEAN Energy Act of 2007, which didn’t receive the 60 votes necessary to end debate last week. Though the legislation would increase fuel-efficiency requirements automobiles for the first time in 32 years, Republicans balked at a tax provision and a Renewable Portfolio Standard. The RPS would require utilities to provide 11% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020. Reid will likely strip a tax provision out of the bill, and try to push the RPS standard through.

Hearing Schedules:
December 11, 2007

Senate

House

  • House Committee on Armed Services
    Hearing on Security and Stability in Afghanistan: Status of U.S. Strategy and Operations and the Way Ahead, 2 p.m., 2118 Rayburn.
  • House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census, and National Archives
    Hearing on A Review of the Census Bureau's Risk Management Activities for IT Acquisitions, 2 p.m., 2154 Rayburn.
  • House Committee on Rules
    To consider the following: Conference Report to accompany H.R. 1585, National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008; Conference to accompany H.R. 2082, Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008; and a resolution Providing for the consideration of the Senate amendment to the bill (H.R. 2764) making appropriations for the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2008, and for other purposes, 5 p.m., H-313 Capitol.

December 12, 2007

Senate

House

December 13, 2007

Senate

House

Joint Meetings

This Week In Congress

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