Hearings

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) will preside over a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on legislation to reinstate the ban on assault weapons next Wednesday.

Democratic lawmakers have been more actively calling to gun-control legislation since the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting in Newtown, Conn., where a gunman killed 20 children in December.

The Senate Judiciary Committee will consider weighty issues next week, specifically gun control and immigration reform.

On Wednesday, members of the Judiciary Committee will ask Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano about the administration’s position on comprehensive immigration reform.

House committees meet next week to examine a host of issues, including embassy security, an issue that continues to be discussed in the wake of the September attack against the U.S. in Benghazi, Libya.

A House Appropriations subcommittee will meet Thursday for an oversight hearing on embassy security, and can be expected to discuss funding needs for U.S. embassies around the world.

The House Budget Committee will meet next Wednesday to discuss the Congressional Budget Office's budget and economic outlook, in the wake of a government report that said growth was -0.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012.

The committee, chaired by former GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), will hear from CBO Director Doug Elmendorf.

The Senate will have an opportunity next week to grill John Brennan — President Obama’s nominee to take over as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

In a rare open hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday, senators will decide if Brennan has what it takes to lead the CIA. Brennan has been serving as Obama’s chief counterterrorism adviser.

The Senate will convene a hearing terrorism in Pakistan.

The Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on Near Eastern and South and Central Asian Affairs will meet Thursday to discuss terrorist networks in Pakistan and their use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

The Senate returns Tuesday to start legislative business, and the terrorist attack at the U.S. Consulate in Libya will be the subject of multiple committee hearings.

Four Americans were killed in Benghazi, Libya, including U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens, during the Sept. 11 attack. Republicans have been critical of the administration’s handling of the situation and aftermath.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hold a hearing Wednesday on the attacks. Last month, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said her committee would hold a hearing on the same matter on Thursday.

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) urged his fellow Ohioan Speaker John Boehner (R) to have the House take up his bill that punishes China for flouting trade laws.

“The manufacturing industry in central Ohio and across our state is bouncing back, but challenges remain — and that’s why we can’t turn a blind eye when countries like China cheat trade laws,” Brown said in a statement Thursday.

The Senate will ease its way back to work after returning from its August recess.

Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will convene the Senate at 2 p.m. Monday, Sept. 10, and later that day the chamber will vote on the judicial nomination of Stephanie Rose to be a U.S. District Judge for Iowa.

The House Homeland Security Committee will hold a hearing next Tuesday to mark the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center, damaged the Pentagon, and killed more than 2,700 people in those buildings and in a plane that crashed in Pennsylvania.

The committee, chaired by Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.), had not listed a time and place for the hearing as of Friday morning.