Lame-duck Congress aims for compromise with Sportsmen’s Act

The lame-duck Congress wobbles back into D.C. Nov. 13 with the Senate starting out on the bipartisan Sportsmen’s Act while the House will work through a smattering of small bills before getting to the Russia free trade agreement later in the week.

TakeActionNews.com, in collaboration with Popvox.com, will offer quick and easy links so you can track and weigh in on all the action in the most important lame-duck session of Congress in a generation.

Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress have joined President Obama in calling for cooperation and collaboration – in the lame duck and in the 113th Congress that will be sworn in Jan. 3. That kind of talk is already triggering anxiety among some Republican conservatives and Democratic liberals who fear walking into a political trap during the lame duck. Read more HERE

So, the atmosphere during the first week of the lame duck session could go a long way toward determining whether the parties will work together later in the month and in December, when they confront the dreaded “fiscal cliff” issues awaiting a year-end resolution.

The big-ticket issues that will be addressed after the Thanksgiving holiday include: expiration of the Bush-era tax cuts and the payroll tax holiday, the “doc fix” for Medicare payments to physicians, a fix to the alternative minimum tax to prevent it from capturing millions of middle class taxpayers, and “sequestration,” which would trigger automatic spending cuts across the federal government

In the meantime, here’s a rundown of some the other issues on Congress’s plate (you can find the full list at PopVox.com):

S. 3525, the Sportsmen’s Act: This measure has garnered support from riflemen and bird-watchers alike. One point of controversy: The bill got the National Rifle Association’s support by explicitly banning the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from regulating lead bullets under the Toxic Substance Control Act.

You can read more about the bill HERE
And weigh in HERE

S. 3240, the Farm Bill: This is a top item on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) agenda, but the real action – or lack thereof – is in the House. The Senate has already passed the bill; the House version cleared the Agriculture Committee but hasn’t been brought to the floor because House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said prior to the election that he didn’t have enough votes. House conservatives think the bill spends too much money; Democrats say the House version takes too much funding away from food stamps.

You can read more about the bill HERE.
And weigh in HERE.

S. 3414, the Cybersecurity Act: Senate negotiations over this bill broke down last summer and haven’t resumed. Nonetheless, Reid is pushing for a vote on the Senate cybersecurity bill before the end of the year. In the background, the White House is also said to be preparing an executive order on cybersecurity.

The Obama administration throughout the fall stressed the importance of improving the security of computer networks that run power grids and the rest of the country’s infrastructure. But who would be in charge, whether standards are voluntary or mandatory and how to protect companies’ confidential data are all issues that are unresolved between Democrats and Republicans.

You can read more about the bill HERE.
And weigh in HERE.

S. 1925, the Violence Against Women Act: The House and Senate both have passed versions of this bill, but the two chambers bogged down over how extensive the protections should be and how to pay for it. The Senate bill expands protection under the law to transgender and other people who weren’t previously covered. This one should be easily resolved, especially as Republicans seek to improve their standing with women voters after the election.

You can read more about the bill HERE.
And weigh in HERE.

S. 3522, the Responsible Homeowner Refinancing Act: The bill would make it easier for homeowners who are up-to-date on their payments to refinance mortgages. The measure wasn’t seriously considered in the run-up to Election Day; it remains to be seen whether a bipartisan effort to move it along can get off the ground.

You can read more about the bill HERE
And weigh in HERE.

H.R. 6156, the Russia trade act: This one looks to be a slam dunk, and the Senate will likely vote on it shortly after it passes the House. The bill would grant permanent normal trade relations status to Russia and remove Cold War-era restrictions that were tied to the immigration policies of the Soviet Union.

You can read more about the bill HERE.
And weigh in HERE.

Remember, it’s unclear how many of these bills Congress will choose to address before the end of the year. And in most cases, the House and Senate have different versions of each bill. But your opinions on which bills are most important will have an impact.

Tags: Congress, lame duck, PopVox

Category: Congress, Election 2012, News, TAN Headlines