Today in Congress: Intel authorization, MilCon approps (and psst... maybe some abortion)

Recapping yesterday's action:

The House allowed itself the usual late start to the workweek, plus one extra day above and beyond what you people got for the holiday weekend, and made its way through consideration of its slate of 12 suspension bills for the day. All but four were passed on voice votes, and three of the remainder passed easily on roll call votes. The Pretentiously-Named Pretend Problem Act, however, saw its vote postponed and rescheduled for today. For more background on this piece of crap, see yesterday's entry and the much more thorough work from Meteor Blades, here.

Looking ahead to today:

They've got a long day planned for floor activity in the House, beginning with the consideration of this year's intelligence authorization bill, which has recently become a favorite legislative vehicle in the lower house. My recollection is that in days gone by, there were sometimes years in which no new authorization was passed, though of course the intelligence community never went without appropriations. But part of the lasting 9/11 hangover has been that everyone tends to jump out of the way of the intel bills, which appear to have joined the ranks of defense and veterans' bills as untouchable. Nine amendments are approved for floor consideration under the rule, which should eat up the first few hours of the day, but the bulk of the day may be spent on the evening's work on the MilCon appropriations bill, which is expected to come to the floor under an open rule, meaning there's no predetermined limit on which amendments can be brought up. So there's no way of knowing just yet how long into the evening they'll have to hang around to work on this, or exactly what they'll be considering, though most members with substantive amendments will have circulated them among their colleagues and have printed them in the Congressional Record.

I also note that Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA-10) will be offering a motion to instruct the conferees on the surface transportation bill today. God only knows what he's up to, but it's probably something like making sure the yellow lines in the road aren't marked with Sharia paint, or whatever.

The last item noted on the schedule, which may or may not actually be called for a vote today, is the postponed roll call on Rep. Trent Franks' (R-AZ-02) ridiculous PRETENDA nonsense. The late night's work might push that into tomorrow, or they might just toss it into the mix if, as is often the practice, they opt to postpone votes on the day's amendments for later in the day, when they can stack them all up and hold the roll calls one after the other. So if you're on pins and needles to see how that one comes out, you'll have to keep your eyes peeled, since they can sneak that one in at any time, including late at night.

Today's floor and committee schedules appear below the fold.