Floor Schedule

MONDAY, DECEMBER 17TH
On Monday, the House will meet at 12:00 p.m. for morning hour and 2:00 p.m. for legislative business. Votes will be postponed until 6:30 p.m.

Legislation Considered Under Suspension of the Rules:
1) H.R. 4606 - To authorize the issuance of right-of-way permits for natural gas pipelines in Glacier National Park, and for other purposes (Sponsored by Rep. Denny Rehberg / Natural Resources Committee)
2) S. 3193 - Barona Band of Mission Indians Land Transfer Clarification Act of 2012 (Sponsored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein / Natural Resources Committee)

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 18TH
On Tuesday, the House will meet at 10:00 a.m. for morning hour and 12:00 p.m. for legislative business.

Legislation Considered Under Suspension of the Rules:
1) H.R. 6612 - To redesignate the Dryden Flight Research Center as the Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center and the Western Aeronautical Test Range as the Hugh L. Dryden Aeronautical (Sponsored by Rep. Kevin McCarthy / Science, Space and Technology Committee)
2) H.R. 6633 - To designate the United States courthouse located at 101 East Pecan Street in Sherman, Texas, as the "Paul Brown United States Courthouse" (Sponsored by Rep. Ralph Hall / Transportation and Infrastructure Committee)
3) H.R. 6166 - To designate the United States courthouse located at 333 West Broadway Street in San Diego, California, as the "James M. Carter and Judith N. Keep United States Courthouse" (Sponsored by Rep. Susan Davis / Transportation and Infrastructure Committee)
4) S. 3311 - A bill to designate the United States courthouse located at 2601 2nd Avenue North, Billings, Montana, as the "James F. Battin United States Courthouse" (Sponsored by Sen. Max Baucus / Transportation and Infrastructure Committee)
5) H.R. 3197 - To name the Department of Veterans Affairs medical center in Spokane, Washington, as the "Mann-Grandstaff Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center" (Sponsored by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers / Veterans’ Affairs Committee)
6) H.R. 6443 - To designate the facility of the Department of Veterans Affairs located at 9800 West Commercial Boulevard in Sunrise, Florida, as the "William 'Bill' Kling VA Clinic" (Sponsored by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz / Veterans’ Affairs Committee)
7) H.R. 3869 - To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 600 East Capitol Avenue in Little Rock, Arkansas, as the "Sidney 'Sid' Sanders McMath Post Office Building" (Sponsored by Rep. Tim Griffin / Oversight and Government Reform Committee)
8) H.R. 3378 - To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 220 Elm Avenue in Munising, Michigan, as the "Elizabeth L. Kinnunen Post Office Building" (Sponsored by Rep. Dan Benishek / Oversight and Government Reform Committee)
9) H.R. 4389 - To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 19 East Merced Street in Fowler, California, as the "Cecil E. Bolt Post Office" (Sponsored by Rep. Jim Costa / Oversight and Government Reform Committee)
10) H.R. 6016 - Government Employee Accountability Act (Sponsored by Rep. Mike Kelly / Oversight and Government Reform Committee)
11) S. 3564 - Public Interest Declassification Board Reauthorization Act of 2012 (Sponsored by Sen. Joe Lieberman / Oversight and Government Reform Committee)
12) S. 2170 - Hatch Act Modernization Act of 2012 (Sponsored by Sen. Daniel Akaka / Oversight and Government Reform Committee)
13) H.R. 6621 - To correct and improve certain provisions of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act and title 35, United States Code, as amended (Sponsored by Rep. Lamar Smith / Judiciary Committee)
14) H.R. 2471 - To amend section 2710 of title 18, United States Code, to clarify that a video tape service provider may obtain a consumer’s informed, written consent on an ongoing basis and that consent may be obtained through the Internet, as amended (Sponsored by Rep. Bob Goodlatte / Judiciary Committee)
15) H.R. 6014 - Katie Sepich Enhanced DNA Collection Act of 2012, as amended (Sponsored by Rep. Adam Schiff / Judiciary Committee)
16) S. 3642 - Theft of Trade Secrets Clarification Act of 2012 (Sponsored by Sen. Patrick Leahy / Judiciary Committee)

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 19TH, AND THE BALANCE OF THE WEEK
On Wednesday and Thursday, the House will meet at 10:00 a.m. for morning hour and 12:00 p.m. for legislative business.

On Friday, the House will meet at 9:00 a.m. for legislative business.

1) H.R. 6504 - Small Business Investment Company Modernization Act (Sponsored by Rep. Steve Chabot / Transportation and Infrastructure Committee)

2) H.R. 1509 - Medicare Identity Theft Prevention Act of 2011, as amended (Sponsored by Rep. Sam Johnson / Ways and Means Committee)

3) H.R. 1845 - Medicare IVIG Access Act, as amended (Sponsored by Rep. Kevin Brady / Ways and Means Committee)

4) Concur in the Senate Amendment to H.R. 3783 - Countering Iran in the Western Hemisphere Act of 2012 (Sponsored by Rep. Jeff Duncan / Foreign Affairs Committee)

5) S. 3331 - Intercountry Adoption Universal Accreditation Act of 2012 (Sponsored by Sen. John Kerry / Foreign Affairs Committee)

Conference Report on H.R. 4310 - National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 (Sponsored by Rep. Buck McKeon / Armed Services Committee)

Possible Legislation Related to Expiring Provisions of Law

In the News

Thinking big; thinking small

John Feehery, The Hill, December 11, 2012

Mike Simpson is thinking big.
 
Barack Obama is thinking small.
 
Simpson, an Idaho Republican, recently spearheaded a bipartisan letter in the House urging negotiators to go big when dealing with the financial cliff. Mike is no Johnny-come-lately in his thoughts. He urged the same thing of the so-called super committee last year, and his efforts landed him a primary opponent.
 
Obama’s sum total in asks in the negotiations has been to urge an increase in rates for the top 2 percent of taxpayers. That’s it. It’s small politics, soaked in class warfare-ism. It won’t do anything to cure our deficit problems, let alone our debt problems.
Simpson, by thinking big, has courageously rounded up Democrats and Republicans to find common ground. He has put proposals to paper, he has done press conferences, he has penned op-eds, all of which put everything on the table. He has gone far outside the comfort zone of most members of the House, who are sheltered in gerrymandered districts and worry far more about primary challenges than they do general-election matchups.
 
Obama has launched a campaign effort that has fallen flat, to say the least. He has not done anything to test his own boundaries, sticking to the same rhetoric he has used for the last four years. And, unbelievably, he has targeted Mike Simpson in his campaign to go small.
 
In fact, Obama’s campaign effort has yielded about 20 calls a day in Simpson’s office, mostly from folks out of state. The calls are unconvincing, and have not deterred the Idaho congressman from his pursuit of something big.
 
We have big problems in this country. Economic uncertainty bedevils us in the short term, but fiscal irresponsibility will doom us in the long term.
 
There is only one way to end the uncertainty and the irresponsibility.
 
And that is the Mike Simpson way.
 
Negotiators should go big and the president should stop being so small.