For 2302, as we begin to wind up our discussion of the legislature, soem random stories regarding Congress this week:
- GOP lawmakers to grill Panetta over cuts to Pentagon budget: The Defense Secretary and the Joint Chiefs Chair wil lbe questioned by committees in the House and Senate. Consider this an example of oversight.
- Republicans retreat on payroll tax cut: While a conference committee meets to reconcile differences between the House and Senate plans regarding the extension of the payroll tax cut, House Republicans are offering to accept the extension without requiring the costs to be offset elsewhere. They want to focus simply on that issue without dealing with extensions of unemployment insurance and the doc fix, which had been part of the original bill.
- Democrats split on handling Iran threat: Democratic Senators are split on how to deal with the threat posed by Iran's nuclear program.
- GOP revives pipeline push in highway bill: Republicans are hoping to revive the stalled Keystone pipeline project by insertign language green lighting it in transportation bills beign considered.
