House

Lawmakers say the program requiring airlines to pay for their carbon emissions would unfairly raise costs for U.S. carriers.

The House meets at 2 p.m., and at 4 p.m. will start work on seven suspension bills, most of which deal with federal land use.

Votes on these bills will start at 6:30 p.m., and each will need a two-thirds majority for passage. The Senate meets at 3:45 p.m., but only for a pro forma session, and is not doing any legislative work this week.

An increasing sense of anxiety is taking hold in Washington, as the deficit reduction "supercommittee" now has just a few weeks to make recommendations to trim spending over the next decade, and there are few signs that any such plan exists or is even possible.

The supercommittee will meet Wednesday to examine security and non-security discretionary spending. But the House and Senate Appropriations Committee aren't expecting the supercommittee to recommend significant cuts to discretionary spending.

Several senators on Thursday proposed legislation that would require websites that online travel service providers to provide detailed information about the health and safety services provided at each advertised destination.

Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.,) the lead sponsor of the bipartisan International Travelers Bill of Rights act, said he introduced the bill after 8-year old Brent Midlock drowned in a hotel pool in Mexico.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday will offer her long-awaited testimony on the status of U.S. operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Aside from discussing ongoing military efforts in Afghanistan, the hearing is likely to explore congressional demands for reduced U.S. aid to Pakistan in light of the discovery of Osama bin Laden deep within that country.

The Senate on Thursday night approved more than a dozen nominations to key trade and financial posts by unanimous consent.

Among those confirmed were Michael Punke as a deputy United States Trade Representative (USTR), and Islam Siddiqui a chief agricultural negotiator at USTR.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) adjourned the Senate at 2:30 a.m. on Friday after one of the longest legislative days so far this year. The upper chamber is set to return for a pro forma session on Monday Oct. 24, and return for legislative work on Monday Oct. 31, at 3 p.m.

The Senate will trudge through up to 16 amendment votes Thursday night as it scrambles to complete work on H.R. 2112, the pending appropriations “minibus" before a weeklong recess begins. 

The votes, announced by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), will almost certainly drive the upper chamber’s work late into the night as each amendment will demand debate and votes that generally last between ten to 15 minutes.

"Lets get rid of these as fast as we can," said Reid prior to the votes.

The decision to work into the night rather moving into an unusual Friday session received the full approbation of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) who said that often the best work is done at night.

“In my time in the Senate, some of our best work has been done on Thursday night,” said McConnell prior to the vote. “Usually when we're passing bills around here, we're working on Thursdays into the evening and finishing them. It is my hope that we'll continue on that path and finish this bill tonight."

Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) on Thursday proposed a prohibition on any fee charged by financial institutions for using their debit cards. Cicilline's bill, H.R. 3190, is a reaction to news that Chase, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America are considering or testing a $5 monthly debit card fee.

"After Wall Street greed drove our financial system to the brink of collapse, the big banks received a massive taxpayer-funded bailout to stay afloat," Cicilline said. "It is unconscionable that now these same banks are trying to reach into the pockets of hardworking American families in order to inflate revenues, bolster balance sheets and feed corporate excess."

The bill would make changes to the Lacey Act, which bans the import of illegally traded wood for musicians and music retailers.