Friday: Sandy in the House, Sandy in the Senate

The House meets at 10 a.m. and is expected to take up a bill aimed at providing a temporary boost to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to help with Hurricane Sandy cleanup efforts.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) promised to consider a Sandy-related bill earlier this week, after he was pummeled by members of both parties for not taking up a bill before the 112th Congress closed.

The bill, H.R. 41, provides a temporary increase in FEMA's borrowing authority for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), from $20.725 billion to $30.425 billion. The NFIP is expected to run out of money by next Monday.

The bill designates the $9.7 billion increase in borrowing authority as an emergency requirement under the Pay-As-You-Go Act, meaning it does not have to be offset with spending cuts.

The Senate meets at 12:30 p.m., and is at some point expected to approve the House-passed bill.

The House and Senate will also meet together at 1 p.m. to count electoral votes from the November election.

Thursday saw passage of a flurry of resolutions in both the House and Senate dealing with their own daily processes, naming various officials of each chamber and making committee assignments official.

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