House

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

House Republicans are readying a bill for next week that would approve a land swap between the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management and an Arizona copper mining company.

The House Rules Committee has posted H.R. 1904, the Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act, on its website, a sign the committee is preparing to approve a rule for that bill and move it to the floor.

Freshman Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) on Thursday accused Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) of being "out of touch" for saying private-sector job growth has been "just fine."

"It's clear that Harry Reid could not be more out of touch," Black said. "The national unemployment rate has been over 9 percent for too long, and Americans across this country are hurting. I constantly hear from families who are struggling to get by, trying to constantly do more with less."

The Senate slipped into an extended period of quorum call on Wednesday evening following a long afternoon in which members waged low intensity debate over amendments to the pending appropriations “minibus.”

In a change of pace from the limited manner in which amendments have been considered so far this year, Senate leadership afforded senators introductions to a large number of amendments, many of which have been germane to the underlying legislation at hand.

Much of the debate, however, has centered around an amendment offered by freshman Sen. Kelly Ayotte (D-N.H.) which would ensure that individuals apprehended within the United States on charges regarding terrorism are not prosecuted in the nation’s Article 3 civilian courts. 

That amendment drew fire from several influential Democrats including Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin (Ill.) and Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary Patrick Leahy (Vt.)

Sens. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) on Tuesday introduced legislation that would exempt animal manure and poultry litter from any Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule that treats them as hazardous waste.

In a "Dear Colleague" letter to other senators, Blunt and Crapo said the bill is needed because some are pushing the EPA to regulate this animal waste under the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), also known as the Superfund law. They argued that law was meant only to identify and clean up toxic-waste sites.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) zinged President Obama on Tuesday, saying that if Republicans wanted to sabotage the economy for political gain, as Democrats have accused, they would simply support his economic policies.

The widely scorned law requires all governments to withhold a portion of most payments to Medicare recipients and contractors. 

The House met at 11 a.m. Tuesday for a brief pro forma session in which no business was conducted, and adjourned less than five minutes later.

While the House is out this week, it has convened periodically for pro forma sessions throughout the year during these off weeks in order to prevent the Obama administration from making any recess appointments.

The next pro forma session will be Friday at 10 a.m., and the House returns next week.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and 32 other Senate Republicans on Monday introduced legislation aimed at creating U.S. jobs by reducing taxes and federal regulations and boosting domestic energy production and promoting exports.

The Jobs Through Growth Act, S. 1720, is a combination of several bills Republicans have offered in the Senate this year, including bills that would repeal last year's healthcare law and the Dodd-Frank financial reform law.

"The Jobs Through Growth Act will help give the certainty and confidence that our private sector so badly needs to invest, grow and create jobs again," McCain said. "By cutting taxes, reforming our broken tax code, reducing spending and getting the burden of overregulation off America's back, we can get our economy moving again."

The Senate agreed on Monday night to extend $36 million in Supplemental Security Income (SSI) to more than 5000 elderly and disabled refugees living in the U.S. The program had expired on Oct. 1.

The vote on S.1721 came after Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) apparently worked out a disagreement over who was eligble for the funds.