House

Rep. Pence said Republicans must not retreat from plans to slash $61 billion even if it means daily funding votes.

Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) said on Monday that he thinks the continuing spending resolution approved last week is the last temporary spending bill Congress will take up for fiscal 2011, and that a full bill is the next step.

"The general feeling right now in Congress is the last CR we did last week is the last CR of 2011, that the next thing we take up will be a 2011 budget," Larsen said at a missile defense conference in Washington. "One bill done in one fell swoop."

A Republican bill that would ban federally funded abortion has been gaining co-sponsorship in recent weeks and could be on track for floor consideration in the months ahead.

By mid-March, the bill had the co-sponsorship of more than half the House — 221 co-sponsors, or 220 when subtracting Rep. Chris Lee (R-N.Y.), who resigned in February after the Craigslist scandal. Most sponsors are Republicans, but nine Democrats are also sponsors: Dan Boren (D-Okla.), Jerry Costello (D-Ill.), Mark Critz (D-Pa.), Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.), Daniel Lipinski (D-Ill.), Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.), Mike Ross (D-Ark.) and Heath Shuler (D-N.C.).

The House Judiciary Committee already marked up and reported the bill on March 3, and in doing so rejected a series of Democratic amendments. The committee reported the bill to the House last Thursday, setting it up for possible consideration.

President Obama on Friday signed the three-week spending resolution that funds government operations through April 8. The prior two-week spending bill expired today.

The House approved the bill on Tuesday by a 271-158 vote, and the Senate approved it by a 87-13 vote.

Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) on Thursday reintroduced legislation that would pull the U.S. out of the United Nations, the same day he criticized U.S. involvement in Iraq and unsuccessfully led the charge to withdraw troops from Afghanistan.

Paul's bill, the American Sovereignty Restoration Act, is the same bill he introduced in the last Congress. The bill would repeal the United Nations Participation Act and the United Nations Headquarters Agreement Act, end U.S. funding to the U.N., require the withdrawal of the U.N.'s presence in U.S. facilities, and even repeal U.S. participation in the World Health Organization.

The bill, H.R. 1146, would end U.S. participation two years after its enactment.

Also on Thursday, Paul introduced a resolution expressing the sense of Congress that the president must get congressional approval before imposing a no-fly zone over Libya. Paul said a no-fly zone would constitute an act of war against Libya, and said Congress must authorize this first.

The House on Thursday approved a resolution that cuts committee expenses in the 112th Congress compared to the 111th.

Most cuts were on the order of 5 percent, although the Judiciary Committee received the 10 percent, $2 million cut in its budget. The House also eliminated the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming entirely — this committee had a $4.2 million budget in the last Congress.

Freshman Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) said he believes Thursday's resolution calling for the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, and a separate bill aimed at blocking federal funds to NPR, were both unconstitutional, which is why he voted "present" on both bills.

Indiana Rep. Dan Burton (R) listed movie recommendations, used his cellphone and considered doing impersonations during a House floor speech Thursday evening as he stalled to keep the chamber in session while two colleagues ran late.

Burton's speech on energy independence wrapped up and he was set to hand off to Rep. Louie Gohmert, but the Texas Republican was nowhere to be seen.

"The people in the cloak room came out and said, 'you need to keep talking,'" Burton told reporters after his 10 minutes of awkwardness wrapped up. "I said, 'well, I've finished my special order.' They said but Louie Gohmert's coming over, he wants to talk." Burton wondered why Gohmert was late.

"They said, 'well, we don't know [why he's late]. But he said to keep talking so he can get here," the veteran lawmaker said. "I just decided to wing it for a little bit and be a little interesting."

The House adjourned shortly before 6 p.m. on Thursday, with the expectation of convening after next week's recess.

The Senate, which was still in session as of 6 p.m., is expected to approve an adjournment resolution the House approved earlier in the week. That resolution would keep the Senate out until March 28 at noon, and the House out until March 29 at 2 p.m.

Before the House adjourned, Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) warned that the U.S. needs to seek out its own energy supplies in the wake of rising oil and gas prices. And freshman Rep. Alan Nunnelee (R-Miss.) scolded the Senate for failing to work out a spending bill for FY 2011 that it can pass.

"It's time for the Senate to act," he said.

The House and Senate each approved a three-week spending resolution that will fund the government through April 8, and President Obama is expected to sign that legislation, H.J.Res. 48, sometime before Friday.

Just minutes after the House rejected his resolution calling for the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) said President Bush and his key cabinet members should be held accountable for waging an unjustified war in Iraq.

"I'm going to say something on this floor that seldom gets discussed here, and that is that I sincerely believe that President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Secretary Rumsfeld and others should be held accountable under international law for waging a war against people who had no quarrel with the United States of America at all," Kucinich said. "There has to be international laws that have to be followed by U.S. officials, and in fact there are."