Image not recoveredUSFlag.jpgThe following is political activity for Thursday, June 30, 2011, going on in Washington and across the nation. It is courtesy of Scott Wilk, Community Organizer, and Anchor Consulting group. The Beacon will be posting these daily as they become available.
IN THE HOUSE
- The House is not in session.
- Democrats to Take Aim at Gun Laws Amid ATF Probe - The brewing scandal over a federal gun-running probe in Arizona is opening the way for Democrats to raise the issue of more gun-control laws. (Wall Street Journal)
IN THE SENATE
- The Senate convenes at 9:30am.
- Following any Leader remarks, the Senate will be in a period of morning business until 12:00pm with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each with the time equally divided and controlled between the two Leaders or their designees, with the Majority controlling the first hour and the Republicans controlling the second hour.
- Following morning business, the Senate will be in Executive Session to consider Calendar # 197, the nomination of David H. Petraeus, of New Hampshire, to be Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, with two hours for debate equally divided in the usual form. Upon the use or yielding back of time (at approximately 2pm), the Senate will conduct a roll call vote on confirmation of the Petraeus nomination.
- Senate votes to require fewer confirmations - The Senate took the rare step of curbing its own power Wednesday, voting to no longer require Senate confirmation for 169 high-level federal jobs filled through presidential appointments. (AP)
OTHER NEWS
- Republicans, Democrats plotting strategies that will hinder budget agreement - As President Obama made the case Wednesday for moving swiftly to approve a deficit-reduction deal that includes tax increases, lawmakers in both parties plotted strategies that could make it difficult to find common ground. (Washington Post)
- Senators split over privacy legislation - Members of the Senate Commerce Committee expressed broad agreement on the need for a national data breach reporting standard but were less unified with regards to the prospect of comprehensive privacy legislation at a hearing on Wednesday. (The Hill)
- No recess? Some won’t play along - Several Republican and Democratic senators are pushing back against calls to scrap next week’s Fourth of July recess, saying it makes little sense to skip long-set plans with constituents back home as well as their families if talks over raising the debt ceiling are happening mainly between a handful of congressional leaders and the White House. (Politico)
- Appeals Court Says Health Law Is Constitutional - A federal appeals court in Cincinnati upheld the 2010 health-care law Wednesday, handing the Obama administration its biggest victory yet as challenges to the president’s signature initiative advance toward the Supreme Court. (Wall Street Journal) Presidential candidates race to raise cash - They want to show they have the resources to compete in the coming months, though history shows that an early edge moneywise doesn’t always matter. (Los Angeles Times)
FEDERAL GRANT OF THE DAY
- Hospital Collaboratives to Improve Maternity Care Practices Related to Breastfeeding in the U.S. The purpose of the program Hospital Collaboratives to Improve Maternity Care Practices Related to Breastfeeding in the U.S. is to improve the quality of maternity care practices and policies related to breastfeeding and to address geographic and race/ethnic disparities in breastfeeding rates by providing opportunities to ensure equitable access to maternity care that optimally supports mothers to be able to breastfeed. For more information, see initial grant announcement.
TODAY IN HISTORY
- June 30, 1921 On this day, President Warren G. Harding appointed former President William Howard Taft chief justice of the United States. and Happy Birthday to Harry Henderson!
Source and thanks to www.anchor-consult.com / For more information, contact Anchor Consulting at 703-333-6013