Rules Committee to consider second energy bill next week

The House Rules Committee on Wednesday afternoon updated its agenda for next week by adding another energy bill, implying the House could act on two pieces of legislation by next week.

On Wednesday, the committee will meet at 3 p.m. to approve rules for H.R. 1229, the "Putting the Gulf of Mexico Back to Work Act," and H.R. 1230, the "Restarting American Offshore Leasing Now Act."

H.R. 1230 is the newly added bill for the week, and it would require the administration to conduct offshore lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and near Virginia.

Republicans were expected to take up these two bills shortly after the Easter recess, and are also expected to consider a third bill shortly: H.R. 1231, which would end what Republicans say is effectively a ban imposed by the Obama administration on offshore drilling.

Rules late Thursday also adjusted its schedule for the week and will now meet 5 p.m. Monday to approve rules for three healthcare bills. The first two would repeal mandatory funding for states to establish health insurance exchanges under the healthcare law (H.R. 1213), and eliminate funding for the construction of school-based health centers (H.R. 1214.)

The committee will also approve a rule for H.R. 3, which would permanently ban taxpayer funded abortions.

Each of these three healthcare bills were already set to be considered next week.