Thursday: STOCK Act in the House, transportation in the Senate

The House meets at 9 a.m. for legislative work, and will start with the House version of the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act.

Democrats sharply criticized House Republicans on Wednesday for advancing a version of the bill that does not include language that would make political intelligence consultants from registering as lobbyists. The bill would broadly clarify that members of Congress cannot use non-public information to enrich themselves with stock trades, although Republicans have pointed out that this is already restricted under current law.

The House will also vote on a motion to instruct House conferees to finish work by Feb. 17 on legislation that would extend the payroll tax holiday. The House already approved an identical motion to instruct conferees in January; nonetheless, members of the House debated this repetitive motion for a full hour on Wednesday.

After that, the House is done, and all votes are expected to be concluded before noon.

The Senate returns Thursday at 9:30 a.m., after having been out Wednesday. The Senate is expected to hold a procedural vote in the early afternoon on the Senate surface transportation bill, S. 1813, setting up a final-passage vote that could take place by next week.