Legislative Debate

House Democrats late Monday afternoon were staging a mini-filibuster against a Republican bill that they said would significantly undermine U.S. environmental protection laws. A handful of amendments were debated before Democratic leaders and senior committee members each took five minutes to talk in opposition to the bill.

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said the message of the 2010 elections was to worry about jobs and the deficit, not to lower environmental standards.

"I got no message from any voter than I ought to come to Congress and undermine the air, water, land that they survive on, recreate on and rely on for the quality of their lives," Hoyer said. "Not one constituent, whether they voted for me or against me, said 'undermine the protections of our land and water and air.' Not one."

House Republicans on Monday made no secret that their Department of the Interior, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Related Agencies spending bill is designed to trim back the EPA, which they said is a huge creator of uncertainty in an already uncertain environment for business and job creation.

The overall bill, H.R. 2584, cuts spending by about 7 percent, but the EPA could be cut by 18 percent. Republican supporters of the bill said these cuts are justified, in part because the EPA received stimulus money that pumped up its budget. But they also made it clear on the House floor that it's time to rein in the agency.

House Financial Services Committee ranking member Barney Frank (D-Mass.) on Thursday said House Republicans are looking to weaken and then ultimately kill the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), starting with a bill that the House is expected to pass today.

During debate on the rule for the bill, H.R. 1315, Frank noted that Republicans last year tried to kill the new bureau before it was approved as part of the law bearing his name, the Dodd-Frank financial reform law. Frank argued that Republican efforts today to weaken the bill are just the start of an attempt to kill the agency outright.

"This is as close as they dare come now, because of public opinion, to abolishing the whole agency," Frank said. "They want to weaken it, and then they will want to undercut it altogether."

The House on Friday will face several chances to cut millions in spending under the 2012 Energy and Water Appropriations Act, although all indications point to the likelihood that members will vote against these measures.

The House has debated the spending bill, H.R. 2354, for much of the week, and has considered several amendments already that would cut spending more severely than the $1 billion in cuts presented in the bill. The House finished work on amendments at about 7:30 p.m. Thursday, and adjourned shortly thereafter.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) on Wednesday introduced a bill that would restrict political "robocalls" and require robocallers to identify themselves when calling potential voters. It would also allow lawsuits against robocallers who abuse the rules.

"Throughout recent elections, we have continued to hear stories about people being inundated with phone calls throughout the day and night," Feinstein said. "There is simply no good reason why Americans wanting a good night's sleep should be awakened at 4:30 in the morning by a robocall."

The House adjourned at 9:24 p.m. after debating several more amendments to the 2012 Energy and Water Appropriations Act, and is expected to hold votes on these on Tuesday in the process of wrapping up the bill.

Two amendments were accepted by voice vote. One, from Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), would cut $6 million from the Department of Energy's energy efficiency and renewable energy. The other, from Rep. Rob Woodall (R-Ga.), would eliminate the department's $200,000 American Home Energy Education Challenge.

The Republican Study Committee on Monday introduced an amendment to the Energy and Water Appropriations Act that would cut $3.25 billion in spending for energy subsidies, which Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) said would help stop the government from "picking winners and losers" in the energy sector.

McClintock said his amendment would cut an energy efficiency and renewable energy program at the Department of Energy that would end research for solar, wind, geo-thermal and other energy sources widely supported by Democrats.

"By stopping the government from doling out dollars to politically favored industries, by stopping it from picking winners and losers among emerging technologies competing for capital, we restore the natural flow of that capital toward those that are the most economically viable and technologically feasible," McClintock said.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) indicated Tuesday that he would prefer to have the Senate approve the House-passed version of the patent reform bill, rather than hold what could be a more complicated House-Senate conference on the legislation. But this possibility is leading opponents of the measure to press for a conference in order to make what they say are needed changes to the bill.

In an email to members of the committee, Leahy stressed that several groups support quick passage of the House bill, H.R. 1249, and said there is "growing support for the Leahy-Smith American Invents Act," referring to Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

Rep. Tom Rooney (R-Fla.) on Friday said he believes President Obama is breaking the law by committing U.S. forces to Libya without congressional authorization, and argued that a vote for his bill to defund Libyan operations is now the only way to rein him in.

"In my opinion the president is breaking the law, but he is being restricted by nobody and being able to continue unfettered," Rooney said on the floor. His defunding bill, H.R. 2278, is expected to be voted on and approved Friday afternoon.

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) on Friday attempted to raise a point or order against the two Libya bills up in the House today, but was rejected by the presiding officer.

Jackson raised a point of order that the bills have not been available for 72 hours before being considered on the floor, as House Republicans promised would be the case for all legislation. The presiding officer, Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), said that under the rule for the bills, all points of order are waived.