PODCAST: Hill Update with Max Pappas, May 9, 2009

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1. FreedomWorks: We handed out a letter asking for cosponsors for Rep. Joe Walsh’s Balanced Budget Amendment (H.J.Res.56). See our letter here.

2. House/Senate/Schedule: The House will be in session for the next week and then go back to their districts for a week. The Senate will be in session for the next three weeks.

3. Senate/Agenda: The Senate will be voting on several Executive Nominations this week. The Small Business Innovation Reauthorization bill is still pending because Senator Harry Reid was unable to invoke cloture on the bill last week.

Next week, the Senate will likely work on an oil and gas tax bill and on the Patriot Act reauthorization.

4.       House/Energy: The House will be working on Putting the Gulf of Mexico Back to Work Act (H.R.1229) on Tuesday and Wednesday, which would amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to facilitate the production of American energy resources from the Gulf of Mexico.

On Wednesday and Thursday, the House will be working on Reversing President Obama’s Offshore Moratorium Act (H.R.1231), which would amend the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to require that each 5-year offshore oil and gas leasing program offer leasing in the areas with the most prospective oil and gas resources and would establish a domestic oil and natural gas production goal.

The Republican Study Committee is introducing the Consumer Relief for Pain at the Pump Act (H.R.1777), which would repeal the Obama Permatorium on the OCS by creating deadlines to approve leases in the Gulf of Mexico currently stalled by the Department of Interior, permanently open the Outer Continental Shelf and the Arctic Coastal Plain (ANWR) for energy exploration and development, ensure that lease sales will happen offshore by guaranteeing the planned lease sales established by the former Mineral Management Service 2007-2012 five-year plan, and would establish a revenue sharing program to encourage leasing on state waters and distribute revenues to state treasuries.

5.       House/Energy and Commerce: This week, the Committee on Energy and Commerce will be marking up H.R.5: Help Efficient, Accessible, Low-cost, Timely Healthcare (HEALTH) Act of 2011, which would set conditions for lawsuits arising from health care liability claims regarding health care goods or services or any medical product affecting interstate commerce.

Energy and Commerce will also have a subcommittee hearing this week on the State Flexibility Act (H.R.1683), which would give more freedom to the States to manage their own Medicaid Programs. Senator Hatch is introducing the Senate companion to this bill.

6.       House/Ways and Means: On Wednesday, the Committee on Ways and Means will be marking up the JOBS Act of 2011 (H.R.1745), which would reform unemployment compensation and insurance requirements. This bill will require that those receiving unemployment show they are looking for work and that those without a high school diploma are pursuing a GED.

On Thursday, Ways and Means will be having a hearing on the Need for Comprehensive Tax Reform to Help American Companies Compete in the Global Market and Create Jobs for American Workers.

7.       House/Member Initiative: Rep. Tom Reed has introduced H.Res.228, a resolution to instruct the Clerk of the House of Representatives to place a real time display of the gross national debt on the House floor, to serve as a very real reminder of what our votes mean.

8.       House/Member Initiative: Rep. Bishop is introducing the Repeal Amendment which would amend the Constitution to include text that reads, “Any provision of law or regulation of the United States may be repealed by the several states, and such repeal shall be effective when the legislatures of two-thirds of the several states approve resolutions for this purpose that particularly describe the same provision or provisions of law or regulation to be repealed.”