February 8, 2013
Both the House and Senate are out of session today. The Senate returns to work at 2:00pm Monday and will vote on a series of amendments to the Violence Against Women Act (S 47). A vote on final passage could come as early as Monday night. The House returns to work on Tuesday. President Obama… Read More
February 5, 2013
Today, Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA) joined his colleagues to introduce a bill to stop the across-the-board budget cuts scheduled for March 1st with a balance of increased revenue and sensible investments. The Balancing Act will halt impending automatic federal budget cuts, known as “sequester,” which would threaten important national investments like those in medical research—a… Read More
February 5, 2013
Yesterday Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Congressman Mike Thompson (D-CA) introduced the Primary Care Workforce Access Improvement Act of 2013 (HR 487). Their bill promotes the training of primary care physicians in rural areas and tests innovative and cost-neutral ways to distribute graduate medical education (GME) payments for the purpose of increasing the number and… Read More
February 4, 2013
Today The House is in at 2:00pm with votes expected at 6:30pm on the Children’s Hospital GME Support Reauthorization Act (HR 297), the Veteran Emergency Medical Technician Support Act (HR 235), and the National Pediatric Research Network Act (HR 225). The Senate is also back at 2:00pm and at 5:30pm will hold a key procedural… Read More
January 31, 2013
Today the Senate is expected to proceed on HR 325, the House-passed “No Budget, No Pay Act of 2013” that would raise the debt ceiling through May while also making the payout of congressional salary contingent upon approval of a budget resolution in each chamber. The measure that passed the House earlier this month would… Read More
January 29, 2013
The House is in recess this week. The Senate is in at 10:00am and will recess from 12:30pm to 2:15pm for weekly party caucus lunches. The full Senate is expected to consider the nomination of Senator John Kerry to be Secretary of State, following the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s vote on the nomination at 10:00am… Read More
January 28, 2013
With just a month to go before sequestration is schedule to take effect, many on Capitol Hill now seem to accept that sequestration is likely to happen on March 1st. This may be in part because Congress is also facing the expiration of the current continuing resolution (CR) just a few weeks after (March 27th),… Read More
January 23, 2013
Update: The House this afternoon passed their bill that would suspend the debt ceiling until the middle of May. The vote was 285-144. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said Wednesday that the Senate will pass the House’s bill; the White House has indicated it will not block the measure. The House will consider legislation today… Read More
January 22, 2013
Amid all the pomp and circumstance yesterday, House Republicans released their proposal to postpone a fight over increasing the nation’s debt limit by suspending it until May 19th. The measure, which is expected to be considered on the House floor tomorrow, would suspend the debt limit through May 18th and then provide for an automatic… Read More
January 21, 2013
Earlier today, Barack H. Obama was sworn in for his second term as the 44th President of the United States. During his inaugural speech, the President called for action on climate change, gay rights, immigration, and the nation’s partisan divide. The President also made the case that the nation needs to come together to do… Read More
