House Cloakroom: December 17 – December 21

Analysis: …when all through the House, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. Their coats were all hung in the cloakroom with care, in hopes that a fiscal cliff deal soon would be there.

Once again, the House has a noticeably quiet schedule this week as the negotiations over the fiscal cliff continue. There are repeated rumors that this fight could go right through Christmas, so hopefully those “visions of sugar plums” are enough to distract you for at least the big day itself.

Major Committee Action:

• The House Foreign Affairs ^[1] Committee will hold a hearing on the “Investigation of Benghazi Attack.”
• The House Education and Workforce ^[2] Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions will hold a hearing on the “Challenges Facing Multiemployer Pension Plans.”
  

Senate Cloakroom: December 17 – December 21

Analysis: The Senate will take up the Administration’s emergency supplemental spending request in response to Hurricane Sandy while it waits for an outcome on the fiscal cliff negotiations. The Administration has asked for $60.4 billion in emergency spending, $28 billion of which goes toward “future disaster-mitigation projects” and $3 billion for the repair or replacement of federal assets, according to Heritage’s Matt Mayer. His report on the excessive spending in the supplemental can be found here ^[3].

Major Floor Action:

• HR 1 ^[4] – Sandy Supplemental Appropriations Bill
  

Major Committee Action:

• The Senate Foreign Relations ^[5] Committee will hold a hearing on the “Investigation of Benghazi Attack.”
• The Senate Judiciary ^[6] Committee will hold a hearing on “The State of the Right to Vote After the 2012 Election.”