This Week in Congress: contempt vote coming while student loan & highway deadlines loom

We're even stealing the This Week in Congress spotlight! We'll be taking to the "air" again this week on Daily Kos Radio, live from 9-11 EDT, and now finally making our way into podcast format as well. We'll doubtless be obsessing about not just the ACA ruling, but also the Arizona "papers, please" case, with help from Armando, Adam B, and perhaps still more members of our legal issues peanut gallery. Plus, we'll talk contempt of Congress, dive back into the weeds on any number of procedural issues, and generally do the things the rest of the radio dial won't touch. Join us Monday through Friday from 9-11, and bring the kiddies out to the park, why don't ya? Well, maybe not kids. But tell a friend, at least.

Recapping Last Week in Congress

The House delivered up its quota of Orwellianism in passing the "Conservation and Economic Growth Act" and the "Domestic Energy and Jobs Act." So congratulations to all of you who are reaping the benefits of the economic growth and new jobs.

The Senate spent its week on a boatload of farm bill amendments, finally wrapping that bill up in time to move on to slogging through the now-routine cloture motions on motions to proceed to the items on this week's agenda.

This Week in Congress

Everyone's eyes will be pointed across the street this week, toward the Supreme Court, which we all anticipate will be handing down its opinion on the Affordable Care Act. But there won't likely be any floor action in either house having to do with that. The band plays on. And there's a lot to play, some of which is not really reflected in the floor schedule. On top of the scheduled floor business for the week are the looming deadlines for reauthorizing surface transportation programs and for blocking the increase in interest rates on federally-supported student loans. Both will have to be addressed, but the pathway to the floor is not yet charted.

In the House, a bundle of suspensions (including five more post office namings), the Transportation/HUD and Agriculture appropriations bills (these not yet under specific veto threat), two postponed votes on motions to instruct conferees in the interminable surface transportation bill conference, and... the full House vote on the motion to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress.

In the Senate, it's business as usual. Which is to say that they'll begin the week by burning off post-cloture time on the motion to proceed to consideration of the flood insurance bill, even though they've already agreed to adopt the motion to proceed by unanimous consent some time before 5:30, so that they can get to the cloture vote on the motion to proceed to consideration of the House's amendment to the FDA user fees bill. Two cloture procedures on two motions to proceed. And it's only Monday.

Full floor and committee schedules are below the fold.

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