House

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) on Friday released an estimate that said H.R. 1230, the "Restarting American Offshore Leasing Now Act," would bring in an estimated $40 million in revenues over the next decade, and would cost just $2 million to implement.

The bill is expected to be on the floor next week, and would require the administration to conduct offshore lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Virginia. CBO said requiring lease sales would not affect revenues related to the Gulf, because the Department of the Interior already has an expectation of making these sales.

Republican Conference Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) on Thursday blamed Obama administration policies for the weak economic recovery since the official end of the recession in mid-2009.

"A lot of people understand that it's the president's policies that, frankly, is leading to having the most tepid recovery in the post-war era," Hensarling said in a television interview Thursday with KLTV in Tyler, Texas.

The House Rules Committee on Wednesday afternoon updated its agenda for next week by adding another energy bill, implying the House could act on two pieces of legislation by next week.

On Wednesday, the committee will meet at 3 p.m. to approve rules for H.R. 1229, the "Putting the Gulf of Mexico Back to Work Act," and H.R. 1230, the "Restarting American Offshore Leasing Now Act."

H.R. 1230 is the newly added bill for the week, and it would require the administration to conduct offshore lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and near Virginia.

Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) on Thursday signaled that the House Energy & Commerce Committee would continue to press the issue of reopening the Yucca Mountain Waste Repository in Nevada as a storage site for nuclear waste, fresh from his tour of the facility this week.

According to the Carmi Times, Shimkus said after his tour that the committee is "taking on an aggressive role of doing our constitutional duty of government oversight of this administration and its actions."

Those oversight activities will start on May 4, when the Energy & Commerce Committee's Energy and Power subcommittee and the Environment and the Economy subcommittee, which Shimkus leads, hold a joint hearing on the role of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in America's energy future. House staffers said the hearing would give Shimkus and other members a chance to testify about their visit to Yucca Mountain and "discuss further action."

The House Rules Committee on Thursday announced it will hold two early meetings next week in order to approve rules for four bills that will be considered on the House floor later in the week.

On May 2, the committee will meet at 5 p.m. to approve a rule for H.R. 1213, which would end federal funding to help states set up health insurance exchanges. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that ending these grants would save $14 billion over the next decade.

House Republicans next week will continue to make the case that government regulations are impeding job growth, and are likely to be sharply critical of the increasing role that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is playing in the area of healthcare.

On May 3, the House Agriculture and House Natural Resources committees will hold a joint hearing to examine the costs of federal regulations on jobs and agriculture. Later in the week, on May 5, the House Education and the Workforce Committee will hear from HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on the priorities of her department.

More details on these and other featured House hearings next week follow:

Read more...

The lawmakers say the project can be revived, while Sen. Reid and others insist it's a lost cause.

A group of GOP senators is criticizing the White House for seeking political contribution information from would-be federal contractors.

House Republicans on Tuesday notified members of a process for accepting amendments next week to H.R. 1229, a bill that would require the secretary of the Interior to act on Gulf of Mexico drilling permits.

Laying out the amendment process indicates that the bill will be taken up next week, although two other energy bills are also expected to be considered as early as next week.

The House Rules Committee said amendments to H.R. 1229, the "Putting the Gulf of Mexico Back to Work Act," must submit language to the committee, in hard copy and electronically, by 10 a.m. Tuesday, May 3.

Rules also said, however, that it might "grant a rule that could limit the amendment process for floor consideration of H.R. 1229."

House Republicans next week will resume their quest to eliminate last year's healthcare law one piece at a time, this time by terminating a grant program that funds school-based health center construction.

The House Rules Committee will meet as early as Monday to approve a rule for H.R. 1214, which would end the grant program established under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The program currently allows the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to award up to $50 million in grants per year for the construction of health centers in schools.