By Congresspedia assistant editor Avelino Maestas [3]

Congress is returning to work this week, following a month off for campaigning in home districts and to allow for the Democratic and Republican conventions. A couple of oldies but goodies will top the agenda for senators and representatives: only one spending bill for the FY 2009 budget [4] has been approved (for Military Construction-Veterans Affairs), and it was passed by just one chamber. Therefore, it appears likely Congress will work on a continuing resolution to keep the government running.

In addition, the question of energy development will emerge as a major issue, as Republicans are continuing to press for expanded offshore drilling while Democrats want to extend renewable energy tax breaks. Also, there are congressional primaries in several states tomorrow — there is more information below, and stay tuned tomorrow for a full election preview.

This may be the last productive session of the 110th Congress: depending on the results of the November general election, we might see a lame duck session at the end of the year. Keeping the government running through the November election is a priority. While there is renewed hope that the Senate can move on a defense appropriations bill — Senate Republicans are expected to drop their objections to consider the bill tonight — there is not enough time to complete work on all 12 bills.

The House and Senate will therefore likely approve a continuing resolution, which would fund government at FY 2008 levels. Whether that funding would be provided through the beginning of the 111th Congress and a new administration or just though the end of the calendar year is still unknown. Also today, the White House did not respond to a question of whether President George W. Bush would veto a continuing resolution if it extends a moratorium on off-shore drilling.

Drilling will be a touchy subject, as many House Republicans have spent the recess advocating for additional oil development at sea. Currently prohibited by the congressional ban, drilling factors into a plan being drafted by a bipartisan group of senators called the Gang of 16 [5].

Meanwhile, Democrats in Congress will likely attempt to extend a series of tax benefits for clean energy development. Several attempts at extending the tax breaks have failed this year — the Consumer-First Energy Act [6] and Energy and Tax Extenders Act [7] were two bills that did not advance.

Also this week, Delaware [8], the District of Columbia [9], Minnesota [10], New Hampshire [11], New York [12], Rhode Island [13], Vermont [14] and Wisconsin [15] are holding congressional primaries on Tuesday. You can see a list of all candidates by clicking a state’s name above, and we’ll have a full preview of the election in this space tomorrow.

See below for committee schedules.

Hearings Schedules:
Sept 9, 2008

Senate

• Senate Committee on Armed Services [16] hearings to examine the current situation in Georgia and implications for United States policy; to be followed by a closed session in SVC-217. SD-106 9:30 am.
• Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs [17] hearings to examine strengthening the ability of public transportation to reduce the dependence of the United States on foreign oil. SD-538 10:00 am
• Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure [18] Oversight hearings to examine the Economic Development Administration, Department of Commerce. SD-406 10:00 am
• Senate Committee on Finance [19] hearings to examine improving health care quality, focusing on an integral step toward health care reform. SD-215 10:00 am.
• Senate Committee on the Judiciary [20] hearings to examine the nominations of Gregory G. Garre, of Maryland, to be Solicitor General of the United States, Clark Waddoups, to be United States District Judge for the District of Utah, Michael M. Anello, to be United States District Judge for the Southern District of California, and Mary Stenson Scriven, to be United States District Judge for the Middle District of Florida. SD-562 10:00 am.
• Senate Committee on the Judiciary [20] oversight hearings to examine the Department of Justice, focusing on protecting the right to vote and preparations for the 2008 general election. SD-562 2:15 pm.
• Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs [21] hearings to examine the nomination of Ruth Y. Goldway, of California, to be a Commissioner of the Postal Regulatory Commission. SD-342 3:15 pm.

Sept 10, 2008

• Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation [22] hearings to examine ways to improve consumer protection in the prepaid calling card market. SR-253 10:00 am
• Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works [18] hearings to examine improving the Federal Bridge Program, focusing on an assessment of S.3338, to amend title 23, United States Code, to improve the safety of Federal-aid highway bridges, to strengthen bridge inspection standards and processes, to increase investment in the reconstruction of structurally deficient bridges on the National Highway System, and H.R.3999, to amend title 23, United States Code, to improve the safety of Federal-aid highway bridges, to strengthen bridge inspection standards and processes, to increase investment in the reconstruction of structurally deficient bridges on the National Highway System. SD-406 10:00 am
• Senate Committee on Finance [19] business meeting to consider S.3038, to amend part E of title IV of the Social Security Act to extend the adoption incentives program, to authorize States to establish a relative guardianship program, to promote the adoption of children with special needs, S.1070, to amend the Social Security Act to enhance the social security of the Nation by ensuring adequate public-private infrastructure and to resolve to prevent, detect, treat, intervene in, and prosecute elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation, and S.1577, to amend titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act to require screening, including national criminal history background checks, of direct patient access employees of skilled nursing facilities, nursing facilities, and other long-term care facilities and providers, and to provide for nationwide expansion of the pilot program for national and State background checks on direct patient access employees of long-term care facilities or providers. SD-215 10:00 am
• Senate Committee on Security and Governmental Affairs [21] hearings to examine audits at the Defense Contract Audit Agency. SD-342 10:00 am
• Senate Committee on the Judiciary [20] hearings to examine new strategies for combating violent crime, focusing on drawing lessons from recent experience. SD-562 10:00 am
• Senate Committee on Rules and Administration [23] hearings to examine S.3308, to require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to permit facilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs to be designated as voter registration agencies.
  SR-301 10:00 am
• Senate Committee on Foreign Relations [24] hearings to examine protocols to the North Atlantic Treaty of 1949 on the Accession of the Republic of Albania and the Republic of Croatia adopted at Brussels on July 9, 2008, and signed that day on behalf of the United States and the other Parties to the North Atlantic Treaty (Treaty Doc.110-20).
  SD-419 10:30 am
• Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe
  Hearings to examine Russia, Georgia, and the return of power politics.
  HROB-2325 1:30 pm
• Senate Committee on Foreign Relations [24] hearings to examine the nominations of Sung Y. Kim, of California, to be Ambassador to the Republic of the Fiji Islands, and to serve concurrently and without additional compensation as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Nauru, the Kingdom of Tonga, Tuvalu, and the Republic of Kiribati, and Carol Ann Rodley, of Virginia, to be Ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia. SD-419 2:00 pm
• Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia [25] hearings to examine managing the challenges of the federal government transition, focusing on assessing the readiness and planning for the transition and identifying critical needs for the new Administration to address. SD-342 2:30 pm
• Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works: Subcommittee on Transportation Safety, Infrastructure Security, and Water Quality [26] hearings to examine the quality and environmental impacts of bottled water. SD-406 3:00 pm

Sept 11, 2008

• Senate Committee on Foreign Relations [24] hearings to examine the nominations of Brian H. Hook, of Iowa, to be an Assistant Secretary of State (International Organization Affairs), Gregori Lebedev, of Virginia, to be Alternate Representative of the United States of America to the Sessions of the General Assembly of the United Nations, during his tenure of service as Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations for U.N. Management and Reform, Gregori Lebedev, of Virginia, to be Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations for U.N. Management and Reform, with the rank of Ambassador, and Matthew A. Reynolds, of Massachusetts, to be an Assistant Secretary of State (Legislative Affairs). SD-419 9:00 am
• Senate Committee on Indian Affairs [27] hearings to examine S.3128, to direct the Secretary of the Interior to provide a loan to the White Mountain Apache Tribe for use in planning, engineering, and designing a certain water system project, S.3355, to authorize the Crow Tribe of Indians water rights settlement, and S.3381, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Commissioner of Reclamation, to develop water infrastructure in the Rio Grande Basin, and to approve the settlement of the water rights claims of the Pueblos of Nambe, Pojoaque, San Ildefonso, Tesuque, and Taos. SD-628 9:30 am

• Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources [28] business meeting to consider pending calendar business. SD-366 9:30 am

• Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs: Subcommittee on Investigations [29] hearings to examine dividend tax abuse, focusing on ways that offshore entitites avoid taxes on United States stock dividends. SD-106 9:30 am
• Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs [30] joint hearings with the House Committee on Veterans Affairs to examine the legislative presentation of the American Legion. CHOB-345 9:30 am
• Senate Committee on the Judiciary [20] hearings to examine S.2746, to amend section 552(b)(3) of title 5, United States Code (commonly referred to as the Freedom of Information Act) to provide that statutory exemptions to the disclosure requirements of that Act shall specifically cite to the provision of that Act authorizing such exemptions, to ensure an open and deliberative process in Congress by providing for related legislative proposals to explicitly state such required citations, S.2838, to amend chapter 1 of title 9 of United States Code with respect to arbitration, S.3136, to encourage the entry of felony warrants into the NCIC database by States and provide additional resources for extradition, S.1276, to establish a grant program to facilitate the creation of methamphetamine precursor electronic logbook systems, S.3197, to amend title 11, United States Code, to exempt for a limited period, from the application of the means-test presumption of abuse under chapter 7, qualifying members of reserve components of the Armed Forces and members of the National Guard who, after September 11, 2001, are called to active duty or to perform a homeland defense activity for not less than 90 days, S.3325, to enhance remedies for violations of intellectual property laws, S.3296, to extend the authority of the United States Supreme Court Police to protect court officials off the Supreme Court Grounds and change the title of the Administrative Assistant to the Chief Justice, S.2052, to allow for certiorari review of certain cases denied relief or review by the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, H.R.5235, to establish the Ronald Reagan Centennial Commission, S.3166, to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to impose criminal penalties on individuals who assist aliens who have engaged in genocide, torture, or extrajudicial killings to enter the United States, and the nominations of Jeffrey Leigh Sedgwick, of Massachusetts, to be an Assistant Attorney General, J. Patrick Rowan, of Maryland, to be an Assistant Attorney General, and William B. Carr, Jr., of Pennsylvania, to be a Member of the United States Sentencing Commission.
  SD-562 10:00 am
• Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship [31] hearings to examine business start-up hurdles in underserved communities access to venture capital and entrepreneurship training. SR-428A 10:00 am
• Special Senate Committee on Aging [32] hearings to examine 1-800-MEDICARE Information (1-800-633-4227).
  SR-325 10:30 am
• Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs [17] hearings to examine transparency in accounting, focusing changes, focusing proposed changes to accounting for off-balance sheet entities. SD-538 2:30 pm
• Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs [21] hearings to examine the nominations of Carol Waller Pope, of the District of Columbia, and Thomas M. Beck, of Virginia, both to be a Member of the Federal Labor Relations Authority. SD-342 2:30 pm