The Senate Agenda for 2009 -When is it DREAM's Turn Edition!!! - Page 5

Alex · 05-16-2009, 05:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CIR_DREAM2009

According to the Politico, Energy/cap and trade will be voted on in the House by Memorial Day recess. That should leave Energy to June or July in the Senate depending on what the Senate wants to tackle first. Obama said he wants health care on his desk to sign by July 31st.

Yes, even Nancy Pelosi promised to be done with it by July 31st.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CIR_DREAM2009

Will health care and energy be the hallmarks of Obama's second 100 days like the stimulus was in his first?

yes, and he will also be successful with it

CIR_DREAM2009 · 05-18-2009, 10:06 AM

Looks like the Politico is wrong on the energy vote. The NYT says the House is expected to pass energy out of the Energy and Commerce Committee - not the full House - before the Memorial Day Recess.

Quote:

Though it is a long way from the president’s desk, Democrats also hope to vote a climate change bill out of the Energy and Commerce Committee this week, starting that measure on its way down what is likely to be a difficult Congressional road.

Still, June and July looks to be the time for health care and energy. The mortgage and credit card reform bill will also be ready for the President to sign after this week.

Jay Stone · 05-18-2009, 10:32 AM

Does that mean that when these two bills are "out of the way" education will come soon after?

CIR_DREAM2009 · 05-18-2009, 03:48 PM

We don't know exactly, Jay, but the Administration has been working on education through the work of the Education Secretary, Arne Duncan, and through increased funding through bills like the stimulus and the upcoming budget appropriations.

We'll just have to wait and see what Obama wants to do for the Fall, but for the summer, they want to do health care, the Supreme Court replacement, and perhaps energy. Energy is not automatically next in line after health care because energy still has to go through negotiations most notably in the Senate.

CIR_DREAM2009 · 05-19-2009, 04:24 PM

More schedule news and more importantly, great news for the Lion of the Senate and one of my favorite Senators, Sen. Ted Kennedy:

Quote:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Tuesday that he spoke with Kennedy’s wife, Vicki, in the past few days and was told the 77-year-old lawmaker is “doing fine.”

Reid said Kennedy’s cancer is in remission and added that while the lawmaker is going through another regiment of treatment, the procedure “is not unusual.”

Sen. Kennedy will also be back full time after the Memorial Day recess. With Kennedy and hopefully Franken in late June, the Dems should be at full strength in time for health care reform:

Quote:

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), a senior member of the HELP Committee, said that Kennedy is scheduled to return to the Senate full time the week after Memorial Day recess to chair the committee markup.

Also, looks like June is the month for health care reform with markup of a health reform bill after the Memorial Day recess.

Quote:

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), one of Kennedy’s closest friends in the Senate, also said that Kennedy would return to wield the gavel on healthcare reform during the first week in June.

CIR_DREAM2009 · 09:14 AM

Senator Reid misspoke on Sen. Kennedy's cancer remission. Doctors haven't decided yet if Sen. Kennedy's cancer is in remission. Senators do hope Kennedy will be back in the Senate after the Memorial Day recess.

CIR_DREAM2009 · 08:22 AM

President Obama wants the energy bill by December.

Quote:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has promised to press for passage of climate legislation this year, but prospects remain uncertain, especially in the Senate. President Barack Obama has told Congress he also wants a bill this year, ahead of international climate talks in December.

The energy/cap and trade bill passed the House and Energy Committee 33-25 yesterday with four Democrats voting against and only one Republican, Mary Bono Mack - wife of the late Sonny Bono of Sonny and Cher fame, voting for the bill.

UPDATE: Obama wants his Supreme Court Justice to be approved over the summer. That makes health care and the SCOTUS replacement to be done over the summer.

CIR_DREAM2009 · 11:17 PM

Here's some summer agenda news:

A May 13 The Hill article reports the summer agenda for Congress looks to be health care reform, appropriations bills, and the Supreme Court appointment in the Senate while the House will tackle energy reform/cap and trade and health care reform.

Quote:

Congressional Democrats have planned an ambitious July, stacking healthcare reform, climate change legislation, annual spending bills and a potential Supreme Court nomination battle on the “To Do” list before the August recess.

Quote:

Senate Democrats had already planned to take up healthcare reform and several spending bills in July, but that heaping plate got even heavier Wednesday when President Obama told Senate leaders that he wants Supreme Court confirmation hearings to take place that month as well.

Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) have slated July as the month to pass healthcare reform through the House. The chairmen of the relevant House panels have promised the president they will send a healthcare reform package to the House floor before August.

Meanwhile, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) has sent a memo to Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) to find out where the rest of the conference stands on key healthcare questions such as individual and employer mandates, the so-called public plan option and pay-as-you-go budgeting rules, according to a Democratic aide familiar with the request.

Congressional leaders and White House officials aim to iron out the differences between the House and Senate bills and send Obama a bill to sign before the end of the year.

At the same time, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said a climate change bill could reach the floor this summer in the wake of agreements Democrats reached on several controversial issues.

Quote:

Busy as that all sounds, the senior Democratic aide said the spending bills would each take up only a few days on the Senate floor if Republicans cooperated. The aide predicted that healthcare reform would take up a few weeks of floor time.

Judiciary Committee hearings on a Supreme Court nominee would not take any floor time, although getting Obama’s court pick a final confirmation vote before the August recess would require GOP cooperation.

“Healthcare and appropriations bills — those are things we want to get done,” said the aide. “It’s up to the president and Republicans what happens with the Supreme Court. It’s a wild card.”

Clarification of Obama's July 31st health care vow: Obama says he wants health care bills passing Congress (not signed into law yet) by July 31st. House/Senate conference negotiations will continue afterward and the President's signature will come later in the year. For floor time purposes, the initial health care debate over the summer will take up the most floor time in the Senate.

CIR_DREAM2009 · 06-03-2009, 10:52 PM

This week the Senate will discuss the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. HR 1256's major provision will finally allow FDA regulation of tobacco.

More schedule news too. The White House and Congress hopes to pass health care reform by the end of July, go to conference committee negotiations, and have the bill ready for the President's signature by October:

Quote:

“He wants the bill through the Senate and the House before the August recess, so we can conference and have it done in September and signed in October,” said Senator Barbara A. Mikulski, Democrat of Maryland. “He said we need to be unflinching and unflagging.”

In remarks just before the meeting, Mr. Obama said: “This is going to be a heavy lift. I think everybody understands that. But I’m also confident that people want to get this done this year.”

dado123 · 06-04-2009, 01:06 PM

Rahn Emanuel states he wants to get Energy and Health Care before August Recess, then CIR should be addressed.

Here watch this MSNBC special on the Obama's White House:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30892505...94090#31093830

Part 1 at about 4 MIN and 45 Sec.

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The Senate Agenda for 2009 -When is it DREAM's Turn Edition!!! - Page 5