Short Work Weeks, Light Load Mark Start of Second Session

[babylonsister]

:argh:

http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?parm1=5&docID=cqmidday-000002654983

Short Work Weeks, Light Load Mark Start of Second Session

The second session of the 110th Congress gets under way Tuesday, when the House returns to work after its holiday recess. But neither chamber is likely to get much done this month.

The House schedule for January will be interrupted by the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday, and by separate Republican and Democratic party retreats, each of which will eat up two full work days. The Senate doesn’t even reconvene until next week.

Election-year campaign imperatives will dominate both the schedule and the agenda on Capitol Hill all year, as majority Democrats seek to draw distinctions with a lame-duck Republican president and underscore their party’s “change” theme.

But President Bush will get his chance to counter their agenda on Jan. 28, when he delivers his annual State of the Union address.

This week, the House is expected to vote on only two significant bills.

One of the measures seeks to further toughen a 2006 mine safety law in the wake of last year’s disaster at a Crandall Canyon, Utah, mine. The measure would expand the regulatory power of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration and shorten deadlines for mine owners to improve emergency communications and other safety measures.

The second major bill on the House agenda would reauthorize the Hope VI program, which provides grants for major rehabilitation or replacement of severely distressed public housing, plus community and supportive service programs for residents. Among other things, the bill would require public housing agencies to provide for timely relocation of each displaced resident, including payment of actual and reasonable relocation expenses.

[KansDem]

1. self delete

[class2068]

2. When you know you can't get anything through the Congress

why break your back?