Recapping yesterday's action: The House passed its two new suspension bills for the day, the first (the DATA Act) by voice vote, and the second (the Small Business Credit Availability Act) in a roll call vote. They also knocked off one of the three suspension votes previously postponed, carrying two over for another day.
They also adopted the motion to go to conference on the transportation bill, clearing the way for negotiations with the Senate in an attempt to find a passable version of a full reauthorization like the Senate has put forth. Interesting bit of procedure involved here: House Dems basically wanted to agree to the Senate bill, but after so much Republican intransigence, it was a victory just to get them to agree to a conference. But in order to go to conference, the House has to declare itself finally in disagreement with the Senate. So how do House Dems help move the bill into conference while also letting everyone know that they're really not in disagreement with the Senate? Well, you decline to object to a unanimous consent request that the House disagree and request a conference, and then offer a motion to instruct the conferees to recede from disagreement with the Senate, that's how.
They lost, of course. But now they've done their bit to move the bill forward (they couldn't very well vote against the motion to go to conference, really) and at the same time put themselves on the record as agreeing with the Senate position. It doesn't do much by itself, really, since motions to instruct are not binding, anyway. But it's clever enough in terms of getting a clear voting position on the record when procedure would otherwise muddle things up.
The Senate completed work on and passed its postal reform bill, clearing the "painless filibuster" threshold with 62 votes.
Looking ahead to today:
The House has a full day ahead, beginning the slog through the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) and 16 pending amendments. And as we've learned, any time the Congress (and in particular, this Republican House) sticks its nose in "cyber" anything, there's likely a disaster in the offing. On that score, CISPA does not disappoint. The White House has issued a veto threat, but that's probably like catnip to House Republicans.
The Senate starts the day with a resumption of the debate of the Violence Against Women Act reauthorization. Yes, we're on to debate of the actual bill now, thanks to a prior unanimous consent agreement to adopt the motion to proceed upon disposition of the postal reform bill. Just until 11:30, though, after which it's on to two more judicial nominations. That only takes them through noon, though, with the votes to follow. What comes after that? Don't know! But we do know the Majority Leader will be recognized at that point. We'll still have the VAWA renewal to work on, of course. And there's some sort of Republican alternative version hanging out there somewhere. Maybe there's a deal on votes to be worked out. Once again, we'll have to wait and see.
Today's floor and committee schedules appear below the fold.
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