 |
|
Register Domains
|
|
|
|
|
Namibian Towns
|
|
|
|
|
Languages
|
|
|
| | |
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congress will mark the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks with a pre-election agenda focusing on national security-related issues.
Must-do tasks for lawmakers returning Tuesday from a monthlong break are reaching agreement on defense spending, which has gone from about $300 billion before the terrorist attacks to nearly $500 billion, and passing a $32 billion spending bill for the Homeland Security Department.
The House and Senate plan to recess September 29 until after the November election. Any other issues -- perhaps immigration or offshore drilling -- they take up before then will be colored by the possibility that the election could restore Democrats to power in either or both chambers.
With no chance of completing all the fiscal 2007 spending bills, Congress will have to return in November after the election for what could be a lame-duck session for Republicans.
The habitually slow-moving Senate is going to have to act with uncharacteristic speed. First up this month will be passage of a $468 billion defense spending bill that includes extra money for military equipment and a security fence along the Mexican border.
The Senate Armed Services Committee is trying to coordinate with the administration on legislation to create a new legal system for holding and trying terrorists in the wake of the Supreme Court's rejection of the current military tribunals.
Responding to other court rulings, GOP leaders also hope to put together in the coming weeks a bill establishing new legal status for the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretaps of terrorist suspects.
Also on the agenda are a port security bill and -- if House and Senate negotiators can reach compromises -- final votes on the Homeland Security bill and a $500 billion bill to authorize defense programs in fiscal 2007.
Nominations up for votes
Senate GOP leaders also hope to confirm John Bolton as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. President Bush appointed Bolton to the post on a temporary basis a year ago after Democrats repeatedly blocked his nomination from getting a vote.
The Senate may also vote to confirm Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. Democratic obstacles to that vote were lifted last week after the FDA announced a long-delayed decision to allow women to buy the morning-after pill without a prescription.
The House leads off with a bill outlawing the slaughtering of horses for human consumption. But it also is expected to quickly move on to measures legalizing military tribunals and the terrorist surveillance program.
House Republicans, in danger of losing the majority they have held since 1995, were playing to their strength in focusing on security issues. "Now is not the time for a weak and indecisive approach that has been offered by Capitol Hill Democrats," said Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio.
Immigration considerations
GOP leaders were also discussing whether to bring up another border security bill.
Immigration reform legislation hit an impasse this summer when House Republicans, after pushing through a tough border security and enforcement bill, rejected the Senate approach of allowing more guest workers and opening a path for illegal immigrants to gain legal status.
"We need the president. He has to pull this together," said Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Massachusetts, a chief sponsor of the Senate bill. In a rare instance of division with House Republicans, Bush has supported a guest worker program and efforts to help the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants earn legal status.
On another issue with election repercussions, Republicans will try to show they are addressing the high cost of energy by passing a bill expanding offshore drilling for oil and gas.
The Senate, before leaving for the August recess, passed a drilling bill limited to one area in the Gulf of Mexico. A previously passed House bill is significantly broader. Senate Republicans have made clear that, if Republicans want an energy bill before the election, theirs is the only one with a chance of passing.
The Senate still has tax issues pending. Just before adjourning for the recess, Senate Democrats blocked a GOP plan combining a Democrat-backed increase in the minimum wage with a Republican-backed cut in inheritance taxes and renewing popular tax breaks that have expired. Sen. Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tennessee, may make another shot at it, but it appears only that extending the tax breaks -- including for college tuition and business research -- will survive in the end.
| National security at top of congressional agenda | Log-in or register a new user account | 0 Comments |
|
| Comments are statements made by the person that posted them.
They do not necessarily represent the opinions of the site editor. |
| |
|
|
News Categories
|
|
|
|
|
Main Menu
|
|
|
|
|
Login
|
|
|
|
|
Online
|
|
|
|
|
Ads
|
|
|
| |
