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The House is set to vote on repealing an election commission set up after the controversial 2000 presidential election

Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) said this week he would soon introduce legislation that would prevent San Francisco and other cities from banning the circumcision of males under 18.

Sherman said his pending bill is a reaction to plans by San Francisco to make the procedure a misdemeanor that is punishable by a prison term of up to one year and a fine of $1,000. This measure has qualified to be on the November 2011 ballot in San Francisco.

Bipartisan amendment from Sens. Hatch and Baucus would allow Congress to pass laws to protect the American flag.

Embattled Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) on Monday informed the House that he will take a two-week leave of absence in order to seek treatment for his behavior that involved sending inappropriate messages to several women.

On Monday evening, the House reading clerk quickly read off Weiner's request for a two-week absence, along with two other requests for time off. While they are technically requests, they are essentially used to inform the House that members will not be present for House proceedings.

Weiner did not appear in the House chamber.

Several reports have noted that Weiner will continue to receive his congressional salary, roughly $174,000 per year, while he seeks treatment. If he takes the full two weeks, Weiner will receive nearly $6,500 while away.

Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) this week introduced legislation that proposes a $100 million per year grant program that would help schools build up more capacity to teach English.

The English Learning and Innovation Act, S. 1158, would establish this program for six years, and would require the Secretary of Education to prioritize rural areas and schools that have had difficulty getting students to a level of English proficiency. Bennet said it is needed because of the growing number of "English learners" in U.S. public schools.

"School districts in rural, urban and suburban communities across the country have large and growing English learner populations," he said. "The English Learning and Innovation Act will help school districts develop successful methods to close the achievement gap and better prepare all students for success in college and the 21st century job market."

Rep. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.) next week will be appointed as the next Ways and Means Committee member. Reed will be the only New York Republican on the committee and will join Democratic New Yorkers Charles Rangel and Joseph Crowley.

Reed will replace Rep. Dean Heller (R-Nev.), who was appointed to the Senate after Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) resigned earlier this year under the pressure of a Senate Ethics Committee investigation. The committee was looking into ethics violations stemming from Ensign's affair with the wife of a former staffer.

House Republicans are expected to ratify the decision to add Reed to the committee on Tuesday.

House Republicans next week plan to take up a patent reform bill that is similar in some ways, but not identical, to one the Senate approved in March.

The bill, H.R. 1249, would move the U.S. closer to the "first-to-file" patent system used by most of the rest of the developed world, but not all the way there. Congress has worked for years to harmonize its patent system with that of other countries that award patents to those who file for them earliest.

The House as early as next week may take up legislation that would make $2.7 billion in cuts to agriculture and rural development programs.

The House Appropriations Committee late last week filed a report to accompany that bill, H.R. 2112, and that means it could come up as early as next week once the House returns. This would be the third appropriations bill House Republicans have brought to the floor.

The newest member of the House, Kathy Hochul (D-NY) was sworn in by House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) at about 3:12 p.m. Wednesday.

After her brief swearing-in, Hochul was introduced by Reps. Charles Rangel (D-NY) and Peter King (R-NY), and delivered brief remarks to her family and assembled members.

"We can and must find common sense solutions to problems facing each of our districts and our country," she said. "As we have learned, our constituents expect and deserve no less."

Hochul won office in the historically conservative 26th district of New York, in an election that many saw as a referendum on House Republican plans to alter the Medicare program. Hochul was sworn in just before House members voted on a rule for the Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill, which Democrats were objecting to because it would deem passage of the House Republican budget that includes changes to Medicare.

House Republicans on Wednesday plan to approve a rule for FY 2012 appropriations bills that "deems" congressional passage of House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's (R-Wis.) fiscal year 2012 resolution. The GOP says this step is needed to move the appropriations process along, although it also starts the House on a path to considering appropriations bills that call for lower spending levels, which Democrats are likely to oppose.

Under a normal process, the House and Senate would agree to a budget resolution, and numbers in this resolution would be used to write the 12 appropriations bills that are considered each year. But while the House approved Ryan's FY 2012 resolution in April, Senate Democrats have rejected this proposal and appear unlikely to take up that resolution or any other resolution.

"Without [a resolution] in place, there can be no debate on spending," said one House staffer.