Thursday: 2013 spending, sequester in the House

By Pete Kasperowicz - 09/13/12 08:30 AM ET

The House meets at 10 a.m. for speeches, then at noon to work on two bills dealing with spending for the next fiscal year.

One is H.J.Res. 117, the Continuing Appropriations resolution, which would keep the government operating through next March. House and Senate leaders agreed to this six-month resolution before leaving for the August break.

The second is H.R. 6365, the National Security and Job Protection Act. This bill, from Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.), would require the Obama administration to submit a plan to replace $55 billion in planned defense cuts in 2013, and would also impose $19 billion more in discretionary cuts than is now required under the Budget Control Act.

On Wednesday, the Obama administration said it would veto this bill, and House Republicans rejected a Democratic amendment that sought to repeal all the 2013 cuts and replace them with new tax revenue.

Also Thursday, the House will start work on H.R. 6213, the No More Solyndras Act. This bill would shut off recent requests for government loans similar to those given to Solyndra, the solar panel maker that went bankrupt after receiving more than $500 million from the administration.

There will also be two suspension votes, one on H.R. 1775, a bill making it a crime to profit from lying about military service, and the other on S. 3245, extending various visa programs for three years.

Any of these bills that the House does not finish today will be finished on Friday.

The Senate meets at 10 a.m., and will continue work on S. 3457, the Veterans Jobs Corps Act.

Late Wednesday, the Senate approved a motion to proceed to the bill, after which Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) blasted Republicans for blocking an agreement to move ahead on the bill more quickly, to which Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) shot back that Democrats are not letting Republicans have any input in the legislative process.

Reid also put forward a substitute amendment to the bill from Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), and filed a motion to end debate on that substitute amendment. Unless Republicans agree, the vote to end debate on the substitute amendment could happen early Friday morning.

Reid indicated that he could call for a vote after midnight Thursday to move the process along as quickly as possible.

— This story was updated at 9:37 a.m. and again at 10:03 a.m.