House

Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) said Sunday the recent scandals in the Obama administration about the right to privacy undermine the trust Congress needs to have when it comes to PRISM, the controversial surveillance program that the National Security Agency (NSA) has run for years.

"If they aren't going to tell us the truth on Benghazi and similar types of issues, then it tends to undermine the trust that is necessary for we the people to bestow upon the government the information-gathering capabilities that they demand, they say, in order to protect us," Brooks told WHNT News in Alabama.

The Senate starts at 2 p.m. by debating the immigration reform bill: the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act, S. 744.

At 5 p.m., the Senate will switch over to the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act, S. 954, also known as the farm bill. Senators will vote on an amendment from Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) that would set up a pilot program for Internet projects in rural areas and then vote on final passage of the farm bill.

The Senate will resume work this week on bipartisan immigration legislation that will test the ability of senators to compromise on an issue that could have election implications for years to come.

Senators will hold a procedural vote on the Gang of Eight's immigration proposal on Tuesday, and will likely spend a good chunk of June working on it. Senate leaders hope to finish the bill before the July 4 recess.

Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) on Thursday introduced legislation that would make it easier to import guns from overseas.

Under current law, firearms can only be imported if they are suitable or readily adaptable for "sporting purposes." Collins called this an "infringement" of the right to carry arms granted by the Second Amendment, and said the distinction of firearms for "sporting purposes" needs to be eliminated.

Several House committees will convene hearings next week to hear testimony on how various reforms can help reduce federal spending.

Many of them happen on Wednesday — the House Financial Services Committee will explore housing finance models without government guarantees, and the House Foreign Affairs Committee will look at how to stretch federal food aid dollars.

A bipartisan group of senators has reintroduced legislation that would require the United States to transition away from using paper dollars, and instead use dollar coins.

The Coins Act, from Sens. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), John McCain (R-Ariz.), Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Mark Udall (D-Colo.), would require the U.S. to stop printing paper dollar bills after four years, or when 600 million dollar coins are in circulation, whichever comes first.

House Republicans on Thursday introduced a bill to reform the federal education program known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB) that would lift many of the federal mandates that schools now face, and give states more flexibility to set education standards.

House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline (R-Minn.) and other Republicans proposed the Student Success Act, H.R. 5. The low bill number indicates it's a priority of House GOP leaders, and Kline's committee is expected to mark up the bill on June 19.

The Senate starts at 9:30 a.m. to debate the bipartisan immigration bill, S. 744.

On Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) filed a motion to get the Senate started on the bill. That sets up a Tuesday vote on the motion to end debate on the motion to proceed.

The White House said the bill backed by House Republicans "runs contrary to our most deeply-held values as Americans."

Republicans in the House, led by Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.), have proposed legislation that would eliminate the Export-Import Bank, which provides government-backed export finance assistance to U.S. companies.

The Export-Import Bank Termination Act, H.R. 2263, would shut down the bank's financing activities after a year and hand the entity over to the Treasury Department to wind down.