CONGRESS DAILY
OUTLOOK

Boehner Outlines A Busy Two-Month
Schedule For House 

     In his first colloquy since winning the leadership race, House Majority Leader Boehner today offered a broad outline of the legislative agenda for the five weeks leading up to the Easter recess in April. Boehner said the FY07 budget resolution would be a top priority but said it was "too early to predict" when the House would vote on the measure. The first week back from next week's Presidents Day recess, Boehner said he expected the House to vote on the motion to go to conference on the pension overhaul bill passed by the House late last year. A supplemental spending bill to fund the ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan also is expected in the short term, and Boehner said he expected additional funds for costs related to Hurricane Katrina to be included in that bill. Boehner also said the House would vote on the USA PATRIOT Act when the Senate completes its work on the bill, and the tax reconciliation bill is also on the agenda. Boehner did not include lobbying and ethics reform in his colloquy but that legislation, which has not yet been introduced, is supposed to take up a large part of the March agenda. House Speaker Hastert indicated this week that he wants to see movement on that package shortly after the House returns.

      When the Senate returns from the Presidents Day recess, Majority Leader Frist plans to spend the first part of the week voting on a compromise reauthorizing the PATRIOT Act. Frist scheduled a cloture vote on the compromise for Feb. 28, followed by a vote on final passage the next day. At presstime, the floor schedule for the remainder of the week was not set, but Frist could bring back to the floor asbestos litigation legislation that failed to overcome a budget point of order this week. The Senate is expected to spend the first two weeks in March on lobbying overhaul proposals. Both the Senate and House in mid-March are taking a weeklong St. Patrick's Day recess. Frist has said he would like to spend the last week of March debating immigration and border security bills. 

     Meanwhile, House members of the moderate Republican Main Street Partnership today outlined their agenda for the year. Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., said lobbying and ethics reform was a high priority and that moderates were pushing for proposals to require greater disclosure for lobbyists so their "transactions are open for all to see." Davis said he supported a proposal to require lobbyists to report interactions with the executive branch. Davis also said cutting the deficit was a top priority. "The one thing that brings us together as Main Streeters is we are deficit hawks," he said. On education issues, Rep. Mike Castle, R-Del., listed safe school programs, improving math and science requirements, and adhering to the principles outlined in the No Child Left Behind law as key issues. Castle also said moderates would continue to push to expand embryonic stem cell research -- a divisive issue within the Republican Conference. 

     Castle agreed with Davis that deficit reduction will be an overarching issue this year and that "everything should be on the table," including mandatory spending programs and defense. On health care, Rep. Nancy Johnson, R-Conn., said moderates would promote legislation to improve information technology in the health sector and that an ongoing challenge would be to change the national focus to a system based on preventative health care. When asked about drilling in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge -- an issue that moderates successfully thwarted in the first session -- they said their position has not changed. "There's absolutely no question we'll be resolute," Johnson said. -- by Susan Davis and Greta Wodele