Rep. Peter Welch called Tuesday's vote on raising the debt ceiling a "bogus political maneuver" by the GOP.

Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) offered a dim forecast for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. 

"Iraq is going to continue to be a mess for years because that’s how they’ve lived since the beginning of time," Dingell, the longest serving member of the House, said in a weekend interview with the Press and Guide, a Dearborn Mich., newspaper.

Dingell added a grim analysis of the military's chances in Afghanistan.

The House will vote Tuesday on a measure to lift the debt ceiling with no corresponding spending cuts. 

The House returns next week to make the point that it cannot support President Obama's request to increase the debt ceiling by $2.4 trillion to accommodate his budget priorities.

Republicans are purposefully setting up this vote to fail, preparing the ground for a vote sometime in the summer on a bill that would likely increase the debt ceiling by some smaller amount and include spending limitation conditions on the increase.

A House vote on this bill could take place as early as Wednesday, and the 40 minutes of planned debate will be one of the highlights of the week.

Senate Democratic leaders intend to call up yet another non-controversial piece of legislation, the Economic Development Administration (EDA) funding bill, next month, which they believe will help create jobs, sources inside leadership told The Hill on Friday.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) introduced legislation this week aimed at making it more difficult for Cuba to develop its petroleum industry. It would do so by imposing new sanctions against entities that invest in Cuba's oil sector.

Ros-Lehtinen's bill comes in the midst of a debate within the U.S. about whether and how the U.S. should develop its own petroleum resources — one that has seen Republicans call for increased drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf.

Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) this week reintroduced legislation that would toughen up U.S. immigration enforcement by increasing border security and requiring mandatory worker verification within the United States.

The bill, the Secure America through Verification and Enforcement (SAVE) Act, was introduced Thursday with 36 co-sponsors from both parties. The bill has the potential to pick up dozens of additional co-sponsors — Shuler's version of the bill in 2007 ultimately attracted 157 co-sponsors.

While the Senate is out next week, the House returns Tuesday after the Memorial Day break, and the House Financial Services Committee will hear testimony from Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on the state of the global financial system.

Other committees will also take on financial issues next week. The House Budget Committee will look at taxpayer exposure to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the House Small Business Committee will examine small business access to credit.

The House next week will look to pass a bill that cuts more than $1 billion in funding for the Department of Homeland Security for FY 2012 and funds DHS at a level nearly $3 billion below the Obama administration's request.

The bill, S. 2017, reflects the belief among Republican appropriators that the U.S. fiscal crisis is at least as grave a security threat as threats from terrorism. In a report accompanying the bill, House Appropriations Committee Republicans said that while DHS plays a "vital role" in countering threats from terrorists, that it not their only consideration.