House

Rep. John Campbell (R-Calif.) said on Monday that drivers should blame the Obama administration for rising gas prices that he says could top $5 a gallon this summer.

"Just remember when you can't fill your tank at a gas station in June because the $50 limit on your debit card only buys you 9.7 gallons, you can lay it all at the feet of the president and the eco-radicals he supports, who have become a significant threat to our freedom and prosperity," Campbell wrote in his Monday "laptop report."

The House and Senate return next week facing the old question of how to reach a FY 2011 budget deal, but also the new question of how to assess sudden U.S. military involvement in Libya.

On Thursday, the House Foreign Affairs Committee will try to gain clarity on Libya by quizzing Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg (not Secretary Hillary Clinton, as Republicans were hoping).

But lingering budget questions are expected to permeate the week, as the House and Senate have just two weeks to reach a final deal or be forced again into another short-term extension.

The House Rules Committee on Tuesday will meet to approve a rule for considering H.R. 471, a bill that would revive the D.C. school-voucher program that expired in 2009. Approval of the rule is expected to lead to a House vote on the bill later in the week.

The bill is sponsored by House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), who has made a point of bringing the voucher program back after Democrats let it expire.

Boehner has indicated that support for the bill from the White House could help President Obama and House Republicans work together on education reform, but Obama so far has indicated opposition. The bill would provide education vouchers for needy students but also provide funding for D.C. public and charter schools.

Most individuals illegally crossing the Arizona-Mexico border are tied to drug or human smuggling, Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) said on Thursday.

“It used to be that those tied to human smuggling or drug smuggling were the exception to the rule,” Flake said. “Now it is the rule.”

But Jennifer Allen, executive director of the Border Action Network, a Tucson, Ariz.-based community organization that works with illegal immigrants, said Flake's statement was inaccurate.

"Those who come across the border still continue to be men, women and children who are looking to reunite with family members already here or looking for economic security and trying to have some stability in their lives," Allen said. "Some of them are just looking for jobs."

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) says it is critical that the Tea Party have an influence on the outcome of the 2012 presidential race — regardless of whether he or his father, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), run.

Congress will hold hearings next week to explore some of the international issues that have been brewing while members were out on recess.

On March 29, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing to get an update on the Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima Daiichi reactor complex and how it is coping with the earthquake/tsunami disaster.

On March 31, the House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a much-anticipated hearing on U.S. military action in Libya. While Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was sought to testify, her deputy, James Steinberg, will face questions from the committee.

Freshman Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) on Wednesday charged that President Obama violated the Constitution by deciding to bomb Libya without congressional approval.

"The Constitution clearly authorizes Congress with the power to declare war, and the president has basically ignored the Constitution by firing missiles at another country without seeking congressional approval," Amash said in a radio interview on 1340 AM WJRW in Michigan.

President Obama usurped his constitutional powers by attacking Libya without Congress’s consent, Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) argued in a Wednesday letter to the White House.

The Democratic Party has abandoned its "conservative" members and is now controlled by the "extreme left wing,” said one Republican lawmaker, who invited these Dems to join the GOP.

Interest payments on the debt allow China to afford to buy a Joint Strike Fighter every day, conservative lawmaker states.