Preview: Congress This Week (October 29-November 2, 2007)

by Conor Kenny — October 29, 2007 - 1:41pm
  • Topics: This Week In Congress, U.S. Congress
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    Looming debates over the 2008 Budget will take center stage this week, as Democrats prepare a $700 billion spending bill package for most of the discretionary budget. The package, containing such priorities as Defense, Veterans Affairs, Labor and HHS, could be hard for President Bush to veto. Several remaining budget bills might be placed in a second package, while others will see individual fights between Congress and the White House.

    In other business, the Senate will once again vote on the $35 billion SCHIP expansion. The House passed a revised version of the bill last week, amid Republican complaints that the vote was poorly timed while wildfires raged in California. House lawmakers will turn their attention to an overhaul of the Trade Adjustment Assistance program, which assists workers whose jobs move oversees.

    Here are the committee hearings scheduled for this week in Congress:

    Hearings Schedules:

    October 29, 2007

    Senate

    • Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe
      To hold hearings to examine the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and simmering tensions with Russia before parliamentary and presidential elections -- Oct 29 at 4 p.m.

    October 30, 2007

    Senate

    • Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
      To hold hearings to examine the role of local law enforcement in countering violent Islamist extremism [SD-342] – Oct 30 at 9:30 a.m.
    • Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
      To hold hearings to examine ways to protect the United States from drug-resistant tuberculosis, focusing on reinvesting in control and new tools research [SD-430] -- October 30 at 10 a.m.
    • Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
      Business meeting to consider S. 2096, to amend the Do-Not-Call Implementation Act to eliminate the automatic removal of telephone numbers registered on the Federal "do-not-call" registry, S. 1580, to reauthorize the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000, S. 2045, to reform the Consumer Product Safety Commission to provide greater protection for children's products, to improve the screening of noncompliant consumer products, to improve the effectiveness of consumer product recall programs, S. 1853, to promote competition, to preserve the ability of local governments to provide broadband capability and services, S. 1675, to implement the recommendations of the Federal Communications Commission report to the Congress regarding low-power FM service, H. Con. Res. 225, honoring the 50th anniversary of the dawn of the Space Age, and the ensuing 50 years of productive and peaceful space activities, and the nominations of Todd J. Zinser, of Virginia, to be Inspector General, Department of Commerce, Robert Clarke Brown, of Ohio, to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, and promotions lists in the United States Coast Guard, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration [SR-253] -- Oct 30 at 2:30 p.m.
    • Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
      To hold hearings to examine the nominations of Sean R. Mulvaney, of Illinois, to be an Assistant Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, and Daniel D. Heath, of New Hampshire, to be United States Alternate Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund [SD-419] -- Oct 30 at 2:30 p.m.
    • Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
      To hold closed hearings to examine certain intelligence matters [SH-219] -- Oct 30 at 2:30 p.m.

    House

    October 31, 2007

    Senate

    • Senate Committee on the Budge
      To hold hearings to examine S. 2063, to establish a Bipartisan Task Force for Responsible Fiscal Action, to assure the economic security of the United States, and to expand future prosperity and growth for all Americans [SD-608] -- Oct 31 at 9 a.m.
    • Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs
      To hold an oversight hearing to examine the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) [SD-562] – Oct 31 at 9:30 a.m.
    • Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works
      To hold hearings to examine the licensing process for the Yucca Mountain Repository [SD-406] -- Oct 31 at 10 a.m.
    • Senate Judiciary Committee
      To hold hearings to examine Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) amendments, focusing on ways to protect Americans' security and privacy while preserving the rule of law and government accountability [SD-226] -- Oct 31 at 10 a.m.
    • Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
      Full Committee, business meeting to consider S. Res. 334, expressing the sense of the Senate regarding the degradation of the Jordan River and the Dead Sea and welcoming cooperation between the peoples of Israel, Jordan, and Palestine, United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, with Annexes, done at Montego Bay, December 10, 1982 (the "Convention"), and the Agreement Relating to the Implementation of Part XI of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982, with Annex, adopted at New York, July 28, 1994 (the "Agreement"), and signed by the United States, subject to ratification, on July 29, 1994 (Treaty Doc. 103-39), Convention Between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Kingdom of Belgium for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income and accompanying Protocol, signed on November 27, 2006, at Brussels (the "proposed Treaty") (Treaty Doc. 110-03), Protocol Amending the Convention Between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Kingdom of Denmark for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income signed at Copenhagen May 2, 2006 D1431(the "Protocol") (Treaty Doc. 109-19), Protocol Amending the Convention Between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Republic of Finland for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income and on Capital, signed at Helsinki May 31, 2006 (the "Protocol") (Treaty Doc. 109-18), and Protocol Amending the Convention Between the United States of America and the Federal Republic of Germany for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income and Capital and to Certain Other Taxes, Signed on August 29, 1989, signed at Berlin June 1, 2006 (the "Protocol"), along with a related Joint Declaration (Treaty Doc. 109-20) [SD-419] -- Oct 31 at 10:30 a.m.
    • Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance and Investment
      To hold hearings to examine climate disclosure, focusing on measuring financial risks and opportunities [SD-538] -- Oct 31 at 2:30 p.m.
    • Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Disaster Recovery
      To hold hearings to examine post-catastrophe crisis, focusing on addressing the dramatic need and scant availability of mental health care in the Gulf Coast [SD-342] -- Oct 31 at 2:30 p.m.

    House

    November 1, 2007

    Senate

    House

    November 2, 2007

    House

    • House Committee on Financial Services
      Full Committee, hearing entitled ``Progress in Administration and Other Efforts to Coordinate and Enhance Mortgage Foreclosure Prevention," 10 a.m., 2128 Rayburn.