House Cloakroom: February 13 – February 17  Analysis: This week the House will take up a reauthorization of the highway bill.  This bill is meant to allocate the revenue from the gas tax to fund the various federal highway programs; however, that has become decreasingly the focus of these reauthorizations.  The federal gas tax was [...]

House Cloakroom: February 6 – February 10  Analysis:  This week the House will consider legislation to sell off civilian property it owns, institute a line-item veto, and ban congressional insider trading.  The week will begin with the Civilian Property Realignment Act, which would create a BRAC-like process to determine the usefulness of government owned property [...]

House Cloakroom: January 16 – January 20 Analysis: The House will return from their holiday recess on Tuesday for a short week.  They will vote on the appointment of the new Sergeant-at-Arms and on a Resolution of Disapproval for the next debt limit increase.  President Obama has submitted another request for an increase of the [...]

House and Senate Cloakroom: December 19 – December 23  Analysis: Over the weekend the Senate passed a two month extension of the payroll tax cut, unemployment insurance and SGR (the doc fix) along with a provision to expedite the decision making process for the Keystone XL pipeline.  The House will return today to vote on [...]

House Cloakroom: December 12 – December 16 Analysis:  This week the House will take up two large year-end packages.  The first will be the extension of the payroll tax cut, unemployment insurance, TANF and the “doc fix.”  The cost of the bill is offset through a federal pay freeze, means testing of Medicare, flood insurance [...]