Daily Kos Radio is going live again this morning for a record-breaking second 9 a.m. EST broadcast in a row! Click here, or on the embedded stream player below to listen in! Recapping yesterday's action:
The House met yesterday to run through its traditional start-of-the-week suspension bills, passing the bulk of them by voice vote, two by roll call vote, and postponing one roll call vote for today.
The Senate, while working towards an agreement on amendments to the farm bill, confirmed the nomination of Mary Geiger Lewis to be United States District Judge for the District of South Carolina.
So that's nice.
Even better, they actually did reach an agreement on the farm bill. Sort of. I mean, they definitely do have an agreement and are going to move forward, it's just... well, you'll see.
Looking ahead to today:
The House takes up the "Conservation and Economic Growth Act" today, which you just know has got to be a crock, since the Republicans who control the chamber don't give a crap about conservation or economic growth. Basically, the bill purports to promote economic growth by undoing decisions aimed at actual conservation. It's not being well-received in the White House, which has so far stopped short of threatening to veto it. But it's certainly clear that they have a close eye on it. Maybe not that close, though, since the White House usually isn't shy about saying quite clearly that if things don't change in the amending process, they'll consider a veto. And they didn't bother saying that here (PDF).
Oh, and of course, they'll have a motion to instruct the conferees on that transportation bill that looks increasingly doomed with each passing week.
In the Senate, it's on to the work of plowing through the now agreed-upon amendments to the farm bill. And here's what I mean about this being a "sort-of" agreement: prior to the agreement, there were about a hundred proposed amendments. This agreement covers 73 of them, eight of which are subject to a 60-vote threshold. Eight's not bad, considering how many amendments were floating out there. But allowing 70%+ of the amendments offered, including such non-germane items as Sen. Tom Coburn's (R-OK) amendment to eliminate federal funding for the major party conventions, seems like a less than efficient outcome from more than a week of negotiations. Still, there were some real stinkers in the mix there, and a lot of Senators interested in causing trouble with votes on them, so it was pretty clear from early on that the price of convincing Republicans to exclude them was going to be a very high number of amendments allowed.
Late in the day, the Senate will also begin work on a resolution of disapproval on the EPA rule limiting mercury emissions from electric plants. Because everyone could use a little more mercury in their lives, don't you think? The measure won't come to a vote until tomorrow, though, so I'll wait until then to tell you that it's under an explicit veto threat. Until tomorrow, then, you didn't hear that from me.
Today's floor and committee schedules appear below the fold.
Don't forget to check in with Daily Kos Radio for commentary on all this and more, every Monday through Friday, from 9-11 a.m. EDT. Just click on the player below.
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