Appropriations

The House will turn this week to a bill that Republicans say would prevent the United States from defaulting on its debts.

The Full Faith and Credit Act is a preemptive attempt by Republicans to defuse the warnings from the White House and Democrats about holding the debt ceiling “hostage” in fiscal negotiations. The bill would give the Treasury Department the ability to borrow above the limit to cover bond and Social Security payments.

While the Treasury insists it cannot prioritize payments and avoid a default if its borrowing capacity is reached, Republicans disagree, and say their bill should assure markets that the country will always pay its debts.

Lawmakers will likely have to increase the debt ceiling sometime in the late summer or early fall.

Thirty-four percent blame Republicans for the FAA furloughs, with 32 percent blaming the president.

President Obama has not been able to sign the measure passed by Congress last week to end air traffic controller furloughs because of a typo in the bill, according to a report.

ABC News is reporting that a word in the legislation is missing an 's,' delaying Obama's signature on the bill until Tuesday.

Congress hurriedly passed the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) bill last week before they left Washington for a weeklong recess as frequent airline passengers complained about delays the agency attributed to the sequester. 

Legislation allowing the government to re-direct millions of dollars was approved in an overwhelming 361-41 vote.

The passage of the bill, sponsored by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), capped a day of scrambling.

Reid is acting as public concern over the cuts has begun to emerge due to airport delays.

Fresh data on U.S. economic growth comes this week as both the House and Senate attend to a full slate of economic events.

On Friday, the Commerce Department will provide its first estimate of economic growth in the first quarter of 2013. The advance estimate will come after the government reported the nation’s gross domestic product grew just 0.4 percent in the last three months of 2012, as businesses braced for the “fiscal cliff.”

Meanwhile, both the House and Senate are in session with a number of high-profile hearings on tap.

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) on Thursday again pressed Republicans to drop plans for passing a bill that would prioritize federal payments in the event that the debt ceiling is reached.

Earlier this month, the chamber's majority leader, Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), said the GOP would soon move a bill that would require the federal government to prioritize interest service payments on the national debt if the debt ceiling is hit. The goal of the bill would be to ensure that the U.S. stays current on its interest payments, even though prioritizing federal payments this way could mean temporary cuts to other programs.

"We know that first-responders are being cut. We know that community police [are] being cut," Rep. Xavier Becerra said.

House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) says the Pentagon should be more aggressive to stem the number of Chinese cyber attacks against U.S. interests.

Rogers told Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Martin Dempsey that he thought the military should be doing more to stem the number of cyber attacks coming from China.

“I think we have to take action with China to stop the PLA from bombarding us hourly with these hack attacks,” Rogers said. “They've stolen all sorts of weaponry from us and research, even the F-35. And I would hope that the department would be much more aggressive on the cybersecurity front.”