Hearings

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."

The House Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing Wednesday to hear the annual report of the Financial Stability Oversight Council.

The Council, created under the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, released its 2012 annual report on Wednesday. The report found the U.S. financial system has rebounded since 2009, but still faces challenges due to stress in Europe.

Senate committees will hold hearings next week to examine the implementation of Dodd-Frank reforms, how to fight human trafficking and how to make college affordable.

In addition to these, the Senate Banking Committee will hear from Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke. And, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will hold a hearing called "Show Me the Money: Improving the Transparency of Federal Spending."

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke will give his semi-annual monetary policy report to Congress next week, giving members of the House and Senate a chance to probe Bernanke for clues about the economy after a series of weaker than expected employment reports.

One question on the minds of many will be what additional steps the Fed might take if the economy remains weak, although some Republicans are likely to argue that the Fed should do no more.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee holds two hearings next week to assess the future of homeland security, dealing with emerging threats and the evolution of the Homeland Security Department's roles and missions.

These are two key hearings in an otherwise light Senate committee schedule, although the Senate Finance Committee will explore Medicare physician payments.

In addition to voting again to repeal the 2010 healthcare law next week, House Republicans will keep up the pressure to repeal the law in several committee hearings.

On Tuesday, the House Ways and Means Committee will discuss the tax ramifications of the Supreme Court's ruling, which found that penalties under the law for not buying health insurance are constitutionally acceptable if treated as a tax. Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) has said he wants to explore how that ruling might inform GOP efforts to repeal the law.

The House Ways and Means Committee will hold a hearing next week on the "tax ramifications" of the Supreme Court's ruling on the healthcare law.

The July 10 hearing will mark the first chance for members of Congress to formally hash out the surprise ruling, which allowed the law's mandate to buy health insurance by treating it as a tax, even though Chief Justice John Roberts said it could not be upheld as a way to regulate commerce under the Commerce Clause.