Scheduling

The House meets Friday at 9 a.m. to immediately take up work on H.R. 754, the Intelligence Authorization Act, and will start with a 30-minute debate on a Republican amendment congratulating intelligence agencies for their work that led to the killing of Osama bin Laden.

After that, votes on five amendments and the bill itself are expected by late morning.

These are the last votes before the House adjourns for a full week. Members return the week of May 23, but the Senate is in session next week.

Grimm-Reed amendment does not include the military and will likely be the only House honors for the mission.

The House meets at 10 a.m. for speeches and again at noon to finish work on an energy bill and begin work on an intelligence authorization bill.

Members will first complete work on H.R. 1231, the Reversing President Obama's Offshore Moratorium Act. The House rejected three Democratic amendments on Wednesday night, and is expected to reject four more before passing the bill.

The House will then start debate on a rule for H.R. 754, the Intelligence Authorization Act for the rest of fiscal 2011. Republicans want to pass this bill to give greater specificity to intelligence spending for the rest of the fiscal year, and the bill includes a classified annex detailing these spending choices.

The House meets at 10 a.m. for morning speeches and then again at noon to consider two energy bills.

Members will vote on six Democratic amendments to H.R. 1229, the Putting the Gulf of Mexico Back to Work Act. This bill would set timelines for Department of Interior decisions on drilling permits in the Gulf.

The House convenes at noon for speeches and then 2 p.m. for work on two bills.

H.R. 1229, the Putting the Gulf of Mexico Back to Work Act, would require the Department of the Interior to act on Gulf drilling permit applications. House Republicans made 11 Democratic amendments in order, and they will be considered today before a final vote on the bill, also today.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) signaled Monday that the Senate would soon turn to a controversial piece of legislation to do away with billions of dollars in tax breaks for large oil producers and increase breaks for clean-energy producers.

As Reid welcomed Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) to the Senate Monday afternoon. he noted the upper chamber would soon have opportunities to "make tough choices" and referred to the upcoming energy legislation.

The Senate returns at 2 p.m. Monday, and in the late afternoon (5:30 p.m.) expects to hold a cloture vote on the nomination of James Michael Cole to be deputy attorney general.

The Senate has little else on tap for this slow Monday, and the House is not in session.

Congress has long felt Americans' pain at the pump, and next week plans to take up legislative proposals that members hope will lower gasoline prices, or at least signal to energy markets that relief is coming.

The House will take up two bills that attack what Republicans believe is the cause of higher gas prices: the Obama administration's resistance to expanding U.S. oil and gas supplies. The two bills would end what Republicans say is a de facto moratorium on offshore drilling, and establish a more predictable framework for considering Gulf of Mexico drilling permits, including a limit on the time the government can take to accept or reject a permit.

The Senate returns next week to a busy hearing schedule, including a series of hearings in the Senate Banking Committee to review the financial crisis and review the Wall Street reform bill. The latter hearing on Thursday will feature testimony from top-line financial regulators, including Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin and several others.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a hearing Tuesday on new oil-and-gas technologies, as Republicans and Democrats continue to spar over how to lower the price of oil and gas. The Senate Finance Committee on Thursday holds its own hearing on rising energy prices.

A key committee meeting in the House next week will be held by the House Armed Services Committee on May 11, when it holds a markup of the fiscal 2012 National Defense Authorization Act.

House Foreign Affairs holds two meetings next week, one to examine U.S. export control policy, and another assessing the Peace Corps after 50 years.

Closer to home, the House Education and the Workforce Committee examines "federal overreach into school meals."