The House convened today at noon. Thee House met in a pro-forma session last Friday, May 29, 2014 for three minutes. Bill scheduled bills for consideration are unknown as of this report.
The Senate reconvened today at noon. Following an hour of morning business, the Senate resumed consideration of H.R. 2048, the House-passed bill making reforms to anti-terror surveillance programs.
A cloture vote on H.R. 2048 could occur as early as after midnight tonight.
Yesterday (sunday), the Senate reconvened subject to a call by majority leader Sen. McConnell and voted 77-17 to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 2048 and the motion to proceed to the bill was agreed to by voice vote. However, Senator Paul, under Senate rules, was able to delay final passage of the bill until at least Tuesday. So the legal authority for the PAtriot Act expired at midnight last night.
A unanimous consent request to extend expiring surveillance provisions of the PATRIOT Act for two weeks to allow Senate committees to work on changes and reforms was objected to Sunday evening.
The Washington Post reported today, "House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) reiterated his preference to have the Senate pass the already-approved House bill [USA Freedom Act], without any amendments, so that it can be sent to President Obama's desk quickly for its enactment into law. "I still think the best advice for them is to pass our bill," McCarthy told reporters Monday morning. He declined several opportunities to say whether he would accept any changes by the Senate, which would require the House to reconsider the anti-terror legislation. . . .
Immediately after the vote, [Sen.] Paul took the floor and began his remarks by conceding that the measure he opposes would eventually pass. But after he left the floor, he declared victory because the House bill, known as the USA Freedom Act, would end the government's collection of phone records."
On May 23rd, the Senate voted 62-37 to pass H.R. 1314, the Trade Promotion Authority bill.
The AP wrote yesterday, yesterday about a new Obama administration rule regulating America's waterways. Republicans "…say the rule is a massive government overreach that could even subject puddles and ditches to regulation. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., is promising to "rein in" the government through legislation or other means.
"It's a threat with a familiar ring. What else are Capito and other Republicans pledging to try to block?
— its proposal for stricter limits on smog-forming pollution linked to asthma and respiratory illness.
— a separate rule setting the first national standards for waste generated from coal burned for electricity.
The AP explains, "Last June, Obama rolled out a plan to cut earth-warming pollution from power plants by 30 percent by 2030, setting in motion one of the most significant U.S. actions ever to address global warming. Once completed this summer, the rule will set the first national limits on carbon dioxide from existing power plants, the largest source of greenhouse gases in the U.S. The administration says the rule is expected to raise electricity prices by about 4.9 percent by 2020 and spur a wave of retirements of coal-fired power plants. The administration also has moved forward on other rules, including the water plan announced last Wednesday."
Of course, the story notes, "GOP lawmakers criticize the rules as anti-business job killers that go further than needed to protect the nation's air and water supplies and other natural resources. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said the new water rule will send 'landowners, small businesses, farmers and manufacturers on the road to a regulatory and economic hell.' Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said Obama and the EPA are 'aggressively pushing an extreme and costly regulatory agenda' that will harm the U.S. economy and everyday life of Americans. His committee 'continues to pursue legislation to take aim at EPA's costly and harmful regulations,' Inhofe said."
In an April op-ed for the Somerset, KY, Commonwealth-Journal, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell criticized the EPA's newest rule, writing, "If the regulation takes effect, it would wreak havoc on the coal, agriculture, commercial development, real estate, construction, and contracting industries statewide. It would be detrimental to traditional farming practices. And it would trample the private property rights of individual Kentuckians.
"By expanding the definition of a wetland, the EPA aims to subject vast new areas in Kentucky to its will. The regulation will trigger confusing requirements that property owners obtain even more permits—on top of those permits they are already responsible for—before undertaking new construction.
"Moreover," Leader McConnell wrote, "the regulation is an affront to private property rights, as it restricts what property owners can or can't do on their own land. Claiming EPA jurisdiction over an area of private property just because a small pond or ditch is there is ridiculous. If the EPA can do this, what can't it do?"
The AP adds, "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has led the charge against the power plant rule, which he says amounts to a declaration of war against his home state, a longtime leader in coal production. McConnell wrote the 50 governors in March urging them not to comply with the rule, which requires implementation by the states. McConnell has encouraged legal challenges to the rule and recently announced a new wrinkle, telling the EPA's McCarthy that Congress could block the plan by using an obscure section of the Clean Air Act requiring congressional consent for agreements among states."
The story also points out, "Lawmakers in the House and Senate will continue to hold hearings on the administration's plans and push bills to block the rules or curb spending on them. The GOP-controlled House passed a bill blocking the EPA water rule on May 12 — two weeks before it was officially announced. Bills to block the power plant rule, ozone limits and coal ash regulation have been filed in both chambers. 'We are going to pursue all avenues,' McConnell told The Associated Press. 'The solution is not right here (in Congress), it's out there — either in the courts or the governors refusing to file plans.'"
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