The following is a roundup of political activity going on in Washington and across the nation. It’s courtesy of Scott Wilk, Community Organizer, and Anchor Consulting group. The Beacon will be posting these daily as they become available.

In the House:

  • The House convenes at 2:00pm today for legislative business
  • Unlimited “One Minutes” Per Side
  • The following votes will be considered under suspension:
    1. H.R. 1694 – Revolutionary War and War of 1812 Battlefield Protection Act (Rep. Holt – Natural Resources)
    2. H.R. 388 – Crane Conservation Act of 2009 (Rep. Baldwin – Natural Resources)
    3. H.R. 411 – Great Cats and Rare Canids Act of 2009 (Rep. Inslee – Natural Resources)
    4. H.R. 1219 – Lake Hodges Surface Water Improvement and Reclamation Act of 2009 (Rep. Bilbray – Natural Resources)
    5. S. 39 – A bill to repeal section 10(f) of Public Law 93-531, commonly known as the “Bennett Freeze” (Sen. McCain – Natural Resources)
    6. H.Res. 320 – Honoring the Life and achievements of Dr. John Hope Franklin (Rep. Watt – Oversight and Government Reform)
    7. H.Res. 254 – Recognizing the designation of March 2009 as Irish American Heritage Month and honoring the significance of Irish Americans in the history and progress of the United States (Rep. McCarthy (NY) – Oversight and Government Reform) 
    8. H.Res. 214 – Recognizing the efforts of the countless volunteers who helped the Commonwealth of Kentucky recover from the ice storm of January 2009 (Rep. Guthrie – Oversight and Government Reform)
    9. H.R. 1516 – To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 37926 Church Street in Dade City, Florida, as the “Sergeant Marcus Mathes Post Office” (Rep. Brown-Waite – Oversight and Government Reform)
  • Representative Jane Harman (D-CA), who is the former ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, is ensnared in an investigation after she was overheard on phone calls intercepted by the National Security Agency agreeing to seek leniency from the Bush administration for two lobbyists who were under investigation for espionage.  In exchange for her help on the lobbyists’ behalf, Harman was said to have been promised an intensive lobbying effort for her to be named chairwoman of the House Intelligence Committee when the Democrats gained control of Congress. The position ultimately went to Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-TX).  Rep. Harman has denied that she ever intervened on the lobbyists’ behalf.
  • Despite repeated criticism of the earmarking process by the House Republican leadership, Republican House members have placed a notable amount of earmark requests. According to CongressDaily, Appropriations ranking member Jerry Lewis (R-CA) “requested millions of dollars for more than 80 projects, including $3 million to design and construct a railroad underpass for Sunset Avenue in the city of Banning.” Fellow appropriator and Defense Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member Bill Young (R-FL), “requested funding for roughly 100 projects, including $3.2 million to replace two bridges in Treasure Island, Fla.,” while newly-elected Rep. Joseph Cao (R-LA), “has requested $1.2 billion in earmarks, almost half of the $2.56 billion sought by all six of Louisiana’s House lawmakers.”

In the Senate:

  • The Senate convenes at 10:00am today
  • Resume Executive Session and consideration of the nomination of Christopher Hill to be Ambassador to Iraq.
  • 12:30pm – 2:15 Recess for the weekly party luncheons.
  • In the still unresolved U.S. Senate race in Minnesota, Republican Norm Coleman filed notice of his appeal to the Minnesota Supreme Court yesterday, asserting that the recount trial judges “deprived thousands of absentee voters of their constitutional rights.”
  • In a statement last night, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee chairman Bob Menendez (D-NJ) said, “[it] is 167 days since the election – it is time for Republicans to stop holding this seat hostage as a way to obstruct President Obama’s agenda. We should all let Senator-elect Franken get to work for the people who elected him. The Minnesota Supreme Court needs to be the end of the road.”

Other News

  • At a meeting with credit card industry executives later this week, President Obama is expected “to tell them to support strict measures that curb lending abuses or face the wrath of angry consumers and a determined Congress, according to banking industry officials.” (WaPo)
  • “Disputes over whether to create a new government-sponsored insurance program to compete with private companies” have increasingly led to liberal interest groups openly expressing consternation with the Obama Administration’s health care reform objectives.  Leaders of left-leaning political organizations have expressed fear that Obama will cave on universal health coverage. (WaPo)
  • “Pressure mounted on President Obama on Monday for more thorough investigation into harsh interrogations of terrorism suspects under the Bush administration, even as he tried to reassure the Central Intelligence Agency that it would not be blamed for following legal advice… But there were signs that he might not be able to avoid a protracted inquiry into the use of interrogation techniques that the president’s top aides and many critics say crossed the line into torture.” (NYT)
  • As the Obama Administration has generally refused to hire lobbyists, “[a] coalition of nonprofit groups has started a campaign to exempt lobbyists for charitable and social welfare organizations that have tax-free status, meeting with presidential aides and sending them a package of ideas for rewriting the policy.” (NYT)
  • Carlos Pascual, who “was the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine from 2000 to 2003 and also served as coordinator for reconstruction and stabilization at the U.S. State Department,” has been accepted by the Mexican government as the U.S Ambassador to Mexico, pending Senate confirmation. (AP)
  • “In the first major disclosure of corruption in the $750-billion financial bailout program, federal investigators said Monday they have opened 20 criminal probes into possible securities fraud, tax violations, insider trading and other crimes… and the total fraud could ultimately reach into the tens of billions of dollars, according to Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general overseeing the bailout program.” (LAT)

Today in History

  • On April 21, 1956, “Heartbreak Hotel” hit the top of the Billboard charts, marking Elvis Presley’s first #1 song. Presley would go on to earn 94 gold singles and more than 40 gold LPs.

Source and thanks to www.anchor-consult.com | For more information, contact Jamie Gregorian at 571-205-1393 or jgregorian@anchor-consult.com