A closer look at next week …

The House and Senate next week are once again faced with a vote on a short-term budget bill. This time, the House will vote on a three-week spending resolution, H.J.Res. 48, which would fund federal operations through April 8.

House Republicans plan a Tuesday vote on their resolution, which will cut another $2 billion a week in order to keep pace with their goal of cutting $61 billion from fiscal 2010 levels. A summary of the cuts is provided here.

The three-week bill is expected to pass, since the alternative is a government shutdown. But Democrats are growing impatient. House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) warned on the House floor Friday that is the last short-term spending resolution he would support, and urged Republicans to negotiate a full 2011 bill with Democrats.

A more detailed look at the week follows:

Monday

The House meets at noon and considers H.R. 793, which would name a post office in California, and H.Con.Res. 27, which would accept a statue of Gerald Ford to be placed in the Capitol. Both bills will be considered under a suspension of House rules.

The Senate meets at 2 p.m. to vote on a judicial nominee and to end debate on a small-business bill, S. 493. The Senate is in session the rest of the week.

Tuesday

The House meets at noon to take up the three-week spending resolution.

Wednesday

The House meets at noon to begin work on two bills to end federal housing programs: H.R. 839 and H.R. 861.

The Senate could begin consideration of the three-week spending resolution.

Thursday and Friday

The House meets at 9 a.m. to consider a resolution from Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) urging the U.S. to pull its troops out of Afghanistan. Also expected is consideration of legislation related to the funding of National Public Radio (legislation was not available as of Friday).

The House does not expect to convene on Friday, although complications with the budget could change that.