Coming Up This Week in Congress: Iraq, Education, and Health

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Both the House and Senate are in session this week, with each chamber expected to debate and consider several important bills and resolutions. Highlights include:

• The Senate will consider a series of amendments to the fiscal year (FY) 2008 Defense Department authorization bill designed to change U.S. military policy in Iraq. One, sponsored by Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.), would mandate that U.S. combat troop withdrawals begin within 120 days of passage and be completed by April 2008.
• The House will consider legislation which would increase grant funding and relax loan requirements for college students in need of financial aid.
• The House is expected to consider a bill which would reauthorize several Food and Drug Administration (FDA) programs and overhaul its drug safety system.

After the jump is a full listing of this week's Senate hearings, courtesy of GovTrack. The House is not in session until Tuesday (July 10), so hearings have not yet been made available.

July 9, 2007

• Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs -- Investigations
  To continue hearings to examine excessive speculation in the natural gas market. [SD-342] Jul 9, 2007 at 2:30 p.m.

July 10, 2007

• Senate Environment and Public Works -- Transportation Safety, Infrastructure Security, and Water Quality
  To hold hearings to examine lessons learned from Chemical Safety Board investigations including Texas City, Texas. [SD-406] Jul 10, 2007 at 10 a.m.
• Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs -- Disaster Recovery
  To hold hearings to examine the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), focusing on addressing a prominent obstacle to the Gulf Coast rebuilding. [SD-342] Jul 10, 2007 at 10 a.m.
• Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
  To hold hearings to examine community services and support, focusing on planning across the generations. [SD-106] Jul 10, 2007 at 10 a.m.
• Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs -- Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia
  To hold hearings to examine the supply chain management at the Department of Defense. [SD-342] Jul 10, 2007 at 2:30 p.m.
• Senate Appropriations -- Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies
  Business meeting to markup proposed legislation making appropriations for Transportation and Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2008. [SD-138] Jul 10, 2007 at 3 p.m.

July 11, 2007

• Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
  To hold hearings to examine the nominations of Bijan Rafiekian, of California, and Diane G. Farrell, of Connecticut, both to be Members of the Board of Directors of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, and William Herbert Heyman, of New York, William S. Jasien, of Virginia, and Mark S. Shelton, of Kansas, all to be Directors of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation. [SD-538] Jul 11, 2007 at 9 a.m.
• Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
  To hold hearings to examine ways to strengthen the unique role of he Nation's Inspectors General. [SD-342] Jul 11, 2007 at 10 a.m.
• Senate Judiciary
  To continue hearings to examine the Department of Justice politicizing the hiring and firing of United States Attorneys, focusing on preserving prosecutorial independence (Part VI). [SD-226] Jul 11, 2007 at 10 a.m.
• Senate Environment and Public Works -- Clean Air and Nuclear Safety
  To hold hearings to examine the Environmental Protection Agency's proposed revision to the Ozone NAAQS. [SD-406] Jul 11, 2007 at 10 a.m.
• Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation
  To hold hearings to examine United States weather and environmental satellites, focusing on their readiness for the 21st century. [SR-253] Jul 11, 2007 at 10 a.m.
• Senate Intelligence (Select)
  To hold closed hearings to examine certain intelligence matters. [SH-219] Jul 11, 2007 at 2:30 p.m.

July 12, 2007

• Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs -- Investigations
  To hold hearings to examine certain vulnerabilities in the government's procedures for licensing radiological materials, focusing on the effectiveness of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's materials licensing policies and procedures, and the vulnerability of those licenses to counterfeiting. [SD-342] Jul 12, 2007 at 9 a.m.
• Senate Indian Affairs
  To hold an oversight hearing to examine transportation issues in Indian country. [SR-485] Jul 12, 2007 at 9:30 a.m.
• Senate Energy and Natural Resources
  To hold hearings to examine the nominations of Clarence H. Albright, of South Carolina, to be Under Secretary of Energy, Lisa E. Epifani, of Texas, to be an Assistant Secretary of Energy and James L. Caswell, of Idaho, to be Director of the Bureau of Land Management. [SD-366] Jul 12, 2007 at 9:30 a.m.
• Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
  To hold hearings to examine cross-border exchange mergers, focusing on the global view. [SD-538] Jul 12, 2007 at 10 a.m.
• Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation
  To hold hearings to examine telephone number portability. [SR-253] Jul 12, 2007 at 10 a.m.
• Senate Judiciary
  Business meeting to consider S.1145, to amend title 35, United States Code, to provide for patent reform, S.1060, to reauthorize the grant program for reentry of offenders into the community in the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, to improve reentry planning and implementation, S.Res.248, honoring the life and achievements of Dame Lois Browne Evans, Bermuda's first female barrister and Attorney General, and the first female Opposition Leader in the British Commonwealth, S.Res.236, supporting the goals and ideals of the National Anthem Project, which has worked to restore America's voice by re-teaching Americans to sing the national anthem, proposed legislation entitled “School Safety and Law Enforcement Improvement Act”, and the nominations of William Lindsay Osteen, Jr., of North Carolina, to be United States District Judge for the Middle District of North Carolina, Martin Karl Reidinger, of North Carolina, to be United States District Judge for the Western District of North Carolina, Timothy D. DeGiusti, of Oklahoma, to be United States District Judge for the Western District of Oklahoma, and Janis Lynn Sammartino, of California, to be United States District Judge for the Southern District of California. [SD-226] -- Jul 12, 2007 at 10 a.m.
  S. 1145: A bill to amend title 35, United States Code, to provide for patent reform
  S. 1060: A bill to reauthorize the grant program for reentry of offenders into the community in the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, to improve reentry planning and implementation, and for other purposes
  S. Res. 248: A resolution honoring the life and achievements of Dame Lois Browne Evans, Bermuda's first female barrister and Attorney General, and the first female Opposition Leader in the British Commonwealth
  S. Res. 236: A resolution supporting the goals and ideals of the National Anthem Project, which has worked to restore America's voice by re-teaching Americans to sing the national anthem
• Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
  To hold hearings to examine the nomination of James W. Holsinger, Jr., of Kentucky, to be Medical Director in the Regular Corps of the Public Health Service, subject to qualifications therefor as provided by law and regulations, and to be Surgeon General of the Public Health Service. [SD-G50] -- Jul 12, 2007 at 10 a.m.
• Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs -- State, Local, and Private Sector Preparedness and Integration
  To continue hearings to examine the state of public-private collaboration in preparing for and responding to national catastrophes. [SD-342] Jul 12, 2007 at 2 p.m.
• Senate Intelligence (Select)
  To hold closed hearings to examine certain intelligence matters. [SH-219] Jul 12, 2007 at 2:30 p.m.
• Senate Energy and Natural Resources
  To hold hearings to examine S.488 and H.R.1100, bills to revise the boundary of the Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site in the State of North Carolina, S.617, to make the National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass available at a discount to certain veterans, S.824 and H.R.995, bills to amend Public Law 106-348 to extend the authorization for establishing a memorial in the District of Columbia or its environs to honor veterans who became disabled while serving in the Armed Forces of the United States, S.955, to establish the Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area, S.1148, to establish the Champlain Quadricentennial Commemoration Commission and the Hudson-Fulton 400th Commemoration Commission, S.1380, to designate as wilderness certain land within the Rocky Mountain National Park and to adjust the boundaries of the Indian Peaks Wilderness and the Arapaho National Recreation Area of the Arapaho National Forest in the State of Colorado, and S.1182, to amend the Quinebaug and Shetucket Rivers Valley National Heritage Corridor Act of 1994 to increase the authorization of appropriations and modify the date on which the authority of the Secretary of the Interior terminates under the Act, S. 1728, to amend the National Parks and Recreation Act of 1978 to reauthorize the Na Hoa Pili O Kaloko-Honokohau Advisory Commission. [SD-366] Jul 12, 2007 at 2:30 p.m.
  S. 488: A bill to revise the boundary of the Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site in the State of North Carolina, and for other purposes
  H.R. 1100: Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site Boundary Revision Act of 2007
  S. 617: A bill to make the National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass available at a discount to certain veterans
  S. 824: A bill to amend Public Law 106-348 to extend the authorization for establishing a memorial in the District of Columbia or its environs to honor veterans who became disabled while serving in the Armed Forces of the United States
  H.R. 995: To amend Public Law 106-348 to extend the authorization for establishing a memorial in the District of Columbia or its environs to honor veterans who became disabled while serving in the Armed Forces of the United States
  S. 955: A bill to establish the Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area, and for other purposes
  S. 1148: A bill to establish the Champlain Quadricentennial Commemoration Commission and the Hudson-Fulton 400th Commemoration Commission, and for other purposes
  S. 1380: A bill to designate as wilderness certain land within the Rocky Mountain National Park and to adjust the boundaries of the Indian Peaks Wilderness and the Arapaho National Recreation Area of the Arapaho National Forest in the State of Colorado
  S. 1182: A bill to amend the Quinebaug and Shetucket Rivers Valley National Heritage Corridor Act of 1994 to increase the authorization of appropriations and modify the date on which the authority of the Secretary of the Interior terminates under the Act
  S. 1728: A bill to amend the National Parks and Recreation Act of 1978 to reauthorize the Na Hoa Pili O Kaloko-Honokohau Advisory Commission