Legislative Debate

House Republicans on Tuesday afternoon brought to the floor a bill that would give Congress the final say in administration regulations.  

The Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act, H.R. 10, would require Congress to approve all major rules, which are those that would have an impact of $100 million or more on the economy. Rep. Rich Nugent (R-Fla.) said this change is needed because the executive branch how has too much authority to impose rules on companies.

It prompted a familiar debate in which Republicans said federal regulations need to be corralled before they stifle business and Democrats said the bill is a waste of time that does nothing to create jobs.

The House on Monday afternoon spent a little more than a half hour debating seven suspension bills, setting up roll call votes for Tuesday, and adjourned just after 4 p.m.

The suspension bills will require a two-thirds majority vote for passage, but that threshold should be reached easily if the brief Monday debate is any guide. Reps. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) and Ben Lujan (D-NM) ran the debate, which was comprised mostly of Hastings offering support for each bill, and Lujan agreeing.

“We have a majority that has a problem with reality,” said Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.).

Three House Democrats on Tuesday introduced legislation that would reinstate the House page program, which Republican and Democratic leaders agreed to cancel over the summer in order to cut costs.

H.Res. 397, introduced by Reps. Dan Boren (D-Okla.), John Dingell (D-Mich.), and Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), would re-establish the page program after a new advisory panel offers recommendations on how it should operate.

The House on Monday afternoon debated three bills under a suspension of House rules, but will return to vote on these bills after a scheduled 6 p.m. event being held in tribute to the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

At 4 p.m., members briefly debated three bills, which met with no opposition in debate and should pass easily later tonight.

House Democrats on Thursday had nothing but praise for a bill that would reauthorize the federal charter school program, in large part because of the bipartisan work done on the bill that led to the inclusion of language aimed at ensuring public schools can benefit from best practices at charter schools.

Members of the House were debating H.R. 2218, the Empowering Parents through Quality Charters Schools Act.

House Democrats as expected appeared split on whether they would oppose the debt-ceiling agreement reached over the weekend, while all Republicans who spoke on the House floor during early debate in the chamber indicated support for the bill.

Speaking during the debate on the rule for the bill, some Democrats argued that the bill asks nothing of the wealthy, and would only cut government services that millions of people are relying on during the economic downturn. The rule was approved in a 249-178 vote, with 10 Democrats supporting it.

"This bill to me is a pig in a poke, and I'm not willing to buy a pig in a poke," Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) said. Joining him in opposition was Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.).

The House on Monday afternoon debated and approved three noncontroversial bills, including one that would give the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) more flexibility to exempt products from consumer safety rules.

The CPSC bill, H.R. 2715, would make long-anticipated changes at that agency that many say would help companies deal with new product safety rules that Congress approved in 2008. One pending issue is a requirement that children's products not exceed a 0.01 percent lead content limit, which many say would stick retailers with inventory that does not meet this threshold. The bill debated today would make that new limit prospective.

The House at about 2 p.m. began a technically complicated procedure aimed at allowing a a vote later in the day on a revised Republican budget plan, which House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) now believes can pass the House.

Members shortly after 2 p.m. began debating a rule allowing Congress to take any rule reported by the Rules Committee immediately to the floor. Passage of this rule, which was approved by the committee Thursday night, would allow debate on a rule approved Friday by the committee that would modify Boehner's debt-ceiling plan.

After that second rule passes, members are expected to vote on the plan itself in the early evening.

House Rules Committee Ranking Member Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) argued in opening debate on the controversial House GOP budget plan that the bill is a "disgrace to this institution" for requiring a vote on a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution under a suspension of House rules.

"Under today's rule, the majority proposes we consider a constitutional amendment under a suspension of the rules, the most closed procedure that we have," Slaughter said.