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A closer look at next week ...
The House and Senate both return next week, but with dueling agendas. The House will pass a bill pressuring President Obama to produce a balanced budget, while the Senate starts work on a bill reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).
House Republicans will pass the Require Presidential Leadership and No Deficit, or Require a PLAN, Act by Wednesday. That bill would essentially require Obama to estimate when the federal budget will come into balance again, and to describe what it will take to get there.
The bill is just the latest GOP attempt to force Democrats to explain their plans for reducing the $1 trillion annual budget deficit.
"With this measure, we are giving the president a chance to kick his habit of submitting budgets that spend, tax, and borrow too much," Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said last week. "That approach clearly isn't working."
The Senate bill also prohibits discrimination against LGBT victims in grant programs to help victims, and would let illegal immigrants stay in the country to receive help if they are victims of domestic violence or rape.
Late last year, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said he was close to working out these differences between the House and Senate versions with Vice President Biden. Biden increasingly seems to be the go-between for the the House and Senate on a range of issues when they get stuck.
Below is a more detailed look at the week ahead:
Monday
The Senate meets at 2 p.m. and will continue work on legislation reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). At 5:30 p.m., the Senate will vote on a motion to proceed to this bill, S. 47.
The Senate is out Tuesday and Wednesday for a Democratic retreat, and returns Thursday to resume work on VAWA reauthorization.
The House also meets at 2 p.m. to take up three health-related bills that were approved in the last Congress. All three are suspension bills, which means they will need a two-thirds majority for passage:
H.R. 297, the Children's Hospital GME Support Reauthorization Act,
H.R. 235, the Veteran Emergency Medical Technician Support Act, and
H.R. 225, the National Pediatric Research Network Act.
Roll-call votes on these bills, if necessary, are expected at 6:30 p.m. More details on the bills are here.
Tuesday-Wednesday
The House meets both days to work on the Require a PLAN Act, H.R. 444. The bill requires Obama to estimate when the budget will balance again if his 2014 budget does not balance the budget in any year for which it makes an estimate.
Last votes on this bill are expected by noon Wednesday.
The Senate is out Tuesday and Wednesday to allow for a Democratic retreat.
Thursday-Friday
The Senate returns and is likely to continue work on its VAWA reauthorization bill.
No votes are expected in the House Thursday or Friday.
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