Thursday: Holder, healthcare, highways, spending, and then… baseball

If Thursday were a pizza, it would have everything on it.

The House — fresh off an eerily bipartisan picnic at the White House Wednesday — is expected to pass an historic resolution on Thursday finding U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress.

The bitter, partisan debate over Holder will be enhanced by the Supreme Court's expected and even more historic healthcare ruling, which will prompt many members to cheer the result, and many others to warn that it could undermine the very fabric of the nation.

Along the way, the House and Senate will be prepping a bill to extend federal highway programs, keep student loan rates low, and reauthorize the national flood insurance program. And the House may take up a 2013 spending bill, and some maritime security bills.

Then — somehow or other — members of Congress will find time to hold their annual congressional baseball game for charity. And probably, it will go into extra innings.

The House will start work shortly after noon on the Holder resolutions. There are two resolutions: one finds Holder in contempt for failing to produce documents related to Fast and Furious, and also makes a criminal referral to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.

The second sets up the possibility of the House Oversight and Government Affairs Committee pursuing civil action against Holder.

The House will start by approving the rule governing debate for the resolutions, and a vote on the rule is expected in the early afternoon. The rule sets an hour and twenty minutes of total debate for the resolutions.

Votes on the Holder bills, and others, should be up for final votes by the early evening.

The House may also continue to work on the 2013 spending bill for the Department of Transportation and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Several amendments to that bill were considered late Wednesday, and five still need roll call votes.

Elsewhere, the House may consider up to 10 remaining suspension bills. On Wednesday, the House voice-voted one of these bills — H.R. 4018, the Public Safety Officers' Benefits Improvements Act.

The Senate meets at 9:30 a.m., ostensibly to continue work on the flood insurance bill, S. 1940. However, Senate leaders announced Wednesday night that a deal has been reached to move the flood bill, the highway bill, and legislation extending the low rate for new, federally backed student loans for another year.

That bill is expected to be put together in time for votes in the House and Senate on Friday. The package is not expected to include language requiring approval of the Keystone XL pipeline.

In light of that schedule, the Senate may find itself with plenty of time for floor reactions to the healthcare ruling.

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