Congresspedia Review: Last Week in Congress (Nov. 2–9, 2007)

Share this

This week saw two big battles between Congress and President Bush, over the nominated attorney general and a vetoed bill, with wins for each. The House approved a defense spending bill with 1/4 of the money Bush has requested for Iraq and Afghanistan for the year, with the rest to come after another vote, and a bill barring employers from discriminating against people because of their sexual orientation.

Weeks after his nomination was considered a sure thing, Michael Mukasey was confirmed by a 53-40 vote in a hastily staged vote late Thursday night. His refusal to take a clear stand on whether "waterboarding" is torture cost him Democratic votes, but six senators from that party joined Republicans and Joe Lieberman in approving the former New York district judge’s nomination.

Also on Thursday, the Senate overwhelmingly approved a veto-override for the Water Resources Development Act, following similar action by the House on Wednesday. The $23 billion water resource measure—which authorizes the spending but doesn’t allocate any funds—was approved by overwhelming majorities in both chambers.

In other news, the House approved the $472 billion 2008 Department of Defense Appropriations Act by a 400-15 vote, following conference negotiations with the Senate. The bill contains the "normal" operating costs of the Defense Department, plus 1/4 of the funding President Bush had requested for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Democratic leaders intend to hold a separate vote on the rest of the funding later, and will attempt to attach some sort of language aimed at hastening the end of the war. The Senate is expected to take up the conference report by the end of the week.

More than 2,049 disclosed earmarks were contained in the Defense conference report, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense. (In conjunction with TCS, the Sunlight Foundation released Google Earth Earmarks, a visual representation of the earmarks contained within the defense appropriation.)

How did your senators and representatives vote? We're still recording the recent controversial votes on the State Children's Health Insurance Program in the senators' and representatives' "permanent records" - their Congresspedia profiles. No special knowledge or expertise is necessary and it only takes a few minutes. Full instructions can be found on the project page.

More details about the week in Congress are after the jump.

Miscellany:

• The House approved the Employee Non Discrimination Act of 2007, which extends workplace protections to gays, lesbians, and bisexuals. House Minority Whip Roy Blunt said the measure could infringe on others' religious rights, while Speaker Nancy Pelosi hailed the legislation as "an historic" achievement.
• Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Penn.) drafted a compromise amendment on telecom immunity to the new FISA bill that would make the federal government the defendant, instead of the companies, in about 40 pending cases.
• The chairs of the Senate and House education committees signaled that the No Child Left Behind Act would not be reauthorized in 2007 because of time constraints.
• A provision in House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel's tax overhaul plan concerning U.S. Virgin Islands I.R.S. audits could benefit many of his top donors.