Hearings

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.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee held a field hearing Wednesday on educational opportunities for Native Americans.

Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) presided over the hearing that was held in Denver. The purpose of the field hearing was to highlight the need for legislation, such as the Native American Education Act, that would help preserve opportunities for Native American students to attend college.

Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) chaired a House Financial Services subcommittee hearing Monday on how new regulations are affecting financial institutions, particularly those in her home state.

The Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit panel held the field hearing in Charleston, W.Va., courthouse.

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Pete King (R-N.Y.) is expected to hold hearings on last week's security breach at New York's JFK airport last week.

In an interview with Newsday, King's spokesman said the incident would "very likely" be the subject of hearings.

House committees will meet next week to conduct another round of oversight hearings on the General Services Administration (GSA), and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), two agencies that have been subject to intense congressional scrutiny for months.

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will meet on Wednesday to hold a GSA oversight hearing to address "agency mismanagement and wasteful spending."