House to take up budget, Patriot Act next week

The House next week will focus on passing a budget for the rest of fiscal 2011, and renewing Patriot Act surveillance authorities.

The House will return Monday at 2 p.m. to start work on the Patriot Act renewal, and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said Friday on the House floor that this bill, H.R. 514, should be completed by Monday.

Cantor said the rest of the week would be devoted to H.R. 1, the FY 2011 budget bill. Republicans delayed release of the bill this week in order to find more to cut, based on complaints from within the Republican Party that the budget did not cut enough.

Cantor said Republicans still intend to cut certain spending to 2008 levels or less, and said Republicans intend to stick to that. "We will abide by our commitment to reduce non-security discretionary spending by $100 billion for remainder of the fiscal year," Cantor said.

Cantor said the House is expected to adjourn by 3 p.m. Thursday of next week, and no votes are planned for Friday.