A closer look at next week…

House and Senate leaders return to work next week with chips on their respective shoulders, eager to make progress on complicated bills that proved difficult to advance earlier in the month.

For House Republicans, that means essentially starting over on a transportation bill that authorizes spending for just a few years, not five. The longer term bill was more costly and led many Republicans to oppose it, and Republicans will take some time to re-write the bill — floor action for the transportation bill is not scheduled for next week.

Republicans will continue to argue that their bill is a job creator, since it will still look to pay for highway spending with revenues created by expanded domestic energy production. However, the GOP will also put forward a separate bill next week to hammer home the point: the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) act.

That bill is expected to help small companies increase their access to capital, expand, hire and go public. The bill is also an answer to the Democratic complaint that Republicans have not brought a significant jobs bill to the floor, even though the GOP has said its several deregulatory bills are jobs bills that the Senate has failed to consider.

The House will also advance a bill aimed at overriding federal regulations that have limited water access in California and (Republicans say) favor species preservation over economic growth, as well as another bill to ease federal education regulations.

On the Senate side, Democrats will try again to pass their own transportation bill, a $109 billion, two-year authorization bill that has support from both parties in the upper chamber. Earlier this month, Senate Republicans made trouble for Democrats by seeking votes on unrelated amendments, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said before the break that he thinks the Senate can finish work on the bill soon.

Below is a more detailed look at the week ahead:

Monday

The House meets at 2 p.m. to consider two bills under a suspension of House rules. One is H.R. 1433, the Private Property Rights Protection Act; the second is H.R. 347, the Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act. The House will concur to the Senate amendment to the latter bill, and votes on both will be held at 6:30 p.m.

The Senate meets at 2 p.m. and will start the day with its annual reading of President George Washington's Farewell Address. Soon thereafter, it will consider the nomination of Margo Brodie to be a U.S. district judge for the Easter District of New York.

The Senate is in for the rest of the week, but had no set schedule as of Friday. However, the Senate was expected to take up much of the week by continuing to work on S. 1813, the two-year transportation authorization.

Tuesday-Wednesday

The House meets at 10 a.m. for speeches and noon for legislative work over these two days. One bill under consideration is H.R. 2117, the Protecting Academic Freedom in Higher Education act. This bill would override two federal education rules that Republicans say are limiting state flexibility over the education system.

Another is H.R. 1837, the San Joaquin Valley Water Reliability act, which is a GOP response to federal water rules that they say are restricting economic growth in California.

The House will also take up two bills under suspension of the rules over these two days. One is H.R. 665, the Excess Federal Building and Property Disposal act, and the other is H.R. 3902, which would revise the timing of special elections for local office in the District of Columbia.

The House may also consider a resolution that directs the Office of the Historian to compile oral histories from members of the House involved in the civil rights movement.

Thursday-Friday

The House meets at 9 a.m. Thursday to complete any unfinished work on the bills listed above, and the House is not in session on Friday.

---