Hearings

House Republicans have planned several hearings next week that will probe the effectiveness and need for various Environmental Protection Agency rules, and will also hold a hearing that tweaks the much-maligned Transportation Security Administration.

A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee holds hearings Thursday and Friday on EPA standards for particulate matter, and the EPA's greenhouse gas regulations. The House Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing Wednesday on how "Federal Resource Agencies are Driving up Electricity Costs."

Senate committees will meet next week to discuss whether the self-regulation of industry is adequate to provide privacy protections, and ways to finance energy-efficient buildings.

Also next week, the Senate Finance Committee will hold a joint hearing with the House Ways and Means Committee on tax reform and the tax treatment of capital gains.

The Senate Commerce Committee will hold a hearing next week to talk with Michael Huerta, the Obama administration's nominee to lead the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Huerta is now Acting FAA Administrator, and has served in that role since last December, when former Administrator Randy Babbitt resigned after he was charged with drunken driving. Babbitt was found driving on the wrong side of the road in Virginia.

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon will return to Washington next week for another round of testimony on his bank's $2 billion trading loss.

Dimon testified in the Senate Banking Committee this week, surrounded by members who probed for answers and called on him to curtail the bonuses of those in charge. Dimon apologized for the trading loss, and said he was "dead wrong" on the decisions that led to it.

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon will testify Wednesday before the Senate Banking Committee in a hearing titled, "A Breakdown in Risk Management: What Went Wrong at JPMorgan Chase?"

The global financial services firm has spent the last few weeks answering questions about trades that resulted in a loss of $2 billion, news that prompted Democrats in particular to argue that this failure is just the latest reason to support the increased oversight of financial services companies in the Dodd-Frank financial reform law.

House Democrats said on Wednesday a Republican bill that could lead to penalties against healthcare providers who perform sex-selection abortions is an unacceptable infringement of women's right to choose abortion.

The GOP bill put Democrats in a somewhat difficult position during Wednesday floor debate, as it prompted one to clarify that Democrats oppose sex-selection abortion. But while no Democrat took the floor to argue in favor of these abortions, several implied that trying to enforce rules against this practice is not worth it given that the limitations it would impose on women.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Chairman Greg Jaczko, who announced this week he would resign as soon as the Obama administration finds a replacement, will face an oversight hearing next week before the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

The subcommittee on Environment and the Economy will hold a hearing Thursday on "NRC Policy and Governance Oversight." Jaczko and the four other NRC commissioners will testify.

The Senate Finance Committee next Thursday will hold a hearing to discuss whether the Social Security Administration is doing all it can to save taxpayer dollars and will hear from SSA Commissioner Michael Astrue.

That's one of just a handful of full committee hearings in the Senate next week, which include a discussion on proposed clean energy standards and reform to the healthcare delivery system. The Senate Commerce Committee will also hold an oversight hearing on the Federal Communications Commission.

The House returns next week to a light hearing schedule at the full committee level, and will discuss Iran sanctions, U.S. trade strategy and financial regulators.

The House Judiciary Committee will also meet Wednesday to discuss implementation of the "America Invents Act," otherwise known as the patent reform bill that passed last year.

A Senate subcommittee will meet Monday in Ohio to examine a state voting law that Democrats say could make it more difficult to vote.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) will preside over this hearing, the third over the last several months to press the issue of how state laws might make it difficult for minorities, students, the elderly and others to vote.