AI reports House Republican leaders sent a letter to rank-and-file House Democrats today, August 7, asking for assistance in getting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) to hold a vote on energy legislation.

The Senate has passed a bill intended to combat ID theft, but its fate this year is uncertain given the limited time left.  The bill, introduced in October by Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) and ranking member Arlen Specter (R-Pennsylvania), would give victims of ID theft the right to seek restitution for the loss of time and money spent restoring credit.

Democratic leaders have now said they plan to consult with Senator Barack Obama, the presidential nominee for the Democratic party, as they plan their second stimulus package.  What is known thus far is that Democrats aren’t rushing to embrace Obama’s idea for an “emergency energy rebate.”

Efforts by House Republicans to protest the lack of a vote on their plan to increase domestic oil and gas drilling remains ongoing as the August congressional recess continues.  A group of about 24 GOP lawmakers appeared again today on an otherwise empty House floor to state their case to a crowd of GOP staffers and tourists. 

September will be an interesting month when lawmakers return to Washington.  Congress did not pass legislation to extend the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) patch to cover tax year 2008, nor did it extend the more than three dozen other expired or expiring tax credits and deductions.  While the majority in Congress do not want to repeat the ugly experience of struggling to renew the AMT patch right up to the tax filing season again in early 2009, Congress does not seem to be able to help itself from repeating the fiasco all over again.

Congress has broken for the August Congressional Recess, locked in the same stalemate over energy that has stalled action on gasoline prices for most of the summer. Meanwhile, two bipartisan groups of rank-and-file members in the House and Senate have outlined energy proposals that they hope could chart a way through the logjam when lawmakers return in September.

HAI has learned House Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-Wisconsin) has written to President Bush asking him to submit a FY08 supplemental spending request for additional funding for fire suppression. 

A large gulf remains between Democrats and Republicans in the Senate over a huge package of tax-cut extensions.  The debate will remain in limbo until September now that the Senate has recessed.  Republicans want to see longer-term extension of the expiring provisions, partially un-offset if possible, or with the difference paid-for with future-year cuts in the rate of discretionary spending growth, while House Democrats are insisting that the extenders are fully paid for.

The House Financial Services Committee approved H.R. 5244 this week, bucking strong industry opposition to the bill that would ban several credit card billing practices.  This marks a significant win for lawmakers and consumer groups who argue the practices are unfair, while the credit card industry argues that many of the practices targeted by the bill are legitimate and allow it to manage risk.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Maryland) has laid out the Democratic floor agenda for September, with a second economic stimulus package and a continuing resolution(CR) to fund the government into FY09 topping the agenda. In addition, Hoyer said the House will take up the tax extenders package, mental health parity legislation, and a bill to address the expanding reach of the alternative minimum tax after Labor Day.

The House Financial Services Committee is marking up a bill, H.R. 5244, today, July 30, that would place new restrictions on credit card companies in an attempt to curb several industry practices that some consider abusive.  Among the practices it would ban is so-called “universal default,” when card companies raise interest rates on current cardholders because of their behavior related to other bills, even though they are in good standing on their card debts.

HAI reports more than a dozen Republican senators have sent Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) a letter urging him to bring to the Senate floor a bill that would reauthorize the E-Verify program without changes.

The E-Verify program expires November 1 unless congress reauthorizes it.  In seeking to renew the program, some senators want to approve other immigration measures, raising the potential for another fight over changing immigration laws with the fall elections just around the corner and Congress ready to recess.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) surprised Republicans yesterday, Monday, July 28, by offering to allow each party to offer four energy-related amendments to the Democratic energy bill (S. 3268) aimed at boosting regulation of speculation in the oil markets.  However, Republicans say the offer doesn’t cut it because each amendment would require 60 votes to pass, representing a difficult threshold for many of the most hyped Republican and Democratic ideas to lower gas prices.

Offshore drilling could dominate Congress this week, tying up lawmakers in both chambers as they try to address gasoline prices before facing their constituents during the August recess.  Republican leaders say they will use every procedural opportunity to keep debating the oil speculation bill, not because they object to it, but because it’s a platform from which to pummel Democrats on their reluctance to expand offshore drilling.

The Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing this week on the state of insurance regulation and oversight.  The life insurance and property and casualty sectors are regulated at the state level, though some carriers are pushing legislation to give them the choice to be regulated at the federal level to cut costs and streamline paperwork.

President Bush will sign a landmark housing bill passed by the U.S. Senate over the weekend intended to stabilize financial markets and the battered housing sector.  Senate passage of the House-passed version (H.R. 3221) ends months of back and forth between the two chambers and the two political parties. 

HAI reports housing legislation could be on its way to President Bush by the end of the week after the House passed the package Wednesday and Senate leaders quickly moved to take it up.

HAI has learned a second stimulus plan is now in the works for a sum of $50 billion.  Presumptive presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama, D-Illinois, has indicated his support for the plan, as well as an expansion of low-interest loans to struggling U.S. automakers.

Congress is heading into the final 26 days of the legislative session without having passed a single appropriations bill.  President Bush said this week “this is the longest a Congress has gone in 20 years without passing a single spending bill, so it’s clear that the speaker (Nancy Pelosi) is feeling some frustration at their inability to do so”.  President Bush’s comments followed Pelosi’s interview on CNN where the speaker upbraided Bush and shot back in unusually personal terms.

HAI continues to track legislation in the House that would allow retailers to jointly negotiate the fees they pay to credit card firms.  The House Judiciary Committee approved the bill this week, and supporters say the bill would fix a situation whereby credit card firms dictate the fees merchants pay on each credit card transaction.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Investigations Subcommittee held a hearing this week to highlight practices of UBS AG and LBT Group of Liechtenstein that Senators said amounted to plotting to help clients hide assets from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), thereby helping U.S. clients evade taxes.

Failure to act quickly to shore up the mortgage lending giants would be a problem, according to Treasury Secretary Paulson who went to Capitol Hill yesterday, July 16, to make his case for quick passage of a housing bill that would allow his department to provide capital to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

HAI continues to track legislation (H.R. 5546) designed to give business owners leverage in negotiating fees associated with credit card transactions.  The House Judiciary Committee is slated to mark up the bill today, July 16.