Tuesday: Currency, jobs, trade

After the currency vote, the Senate is expected to hold another controversial vote to proceed to President Obama’s jobs bill, S. 1660. Senate Democrats amended that bill last week to strip out Obama’s proposed tax hikes on oil companies and families earning more than $250,000, and replaced it with a 5.6 percent “surtax” on annual earnings above $1 million.

The Senate will need 60 votes to proceed to the jobs bill, which is unlikely given Republican opposition.

{mosads}The House meets at noon for speeches, then 2 p.m. for a busy day that includes taking up the rule for four trade bills, finishing an EPA bill and looking at six suspension bills.

The trade bills are the three free trade agreements, plus the GSP/TAA bill. The House Rules Committee last week approved a rule governing debate for these four bills, which will take place Wednesday. All of these votes will start at 6:30 p.m.

The free trade agreements are H.R. 3078 (Colombia), 3079 (Panama) and 3080 (South Korea), and H.R. 2832, the GSP/TAA bill.

The EPA bill is H.R. 2250, the EPA Regulatory Relief Act, which would delay pending EPA regulations on boiler emissions. The House began work on that bill last week.

The suspension bills deal with veterans; they are:

H.R. 2433, the Veterans Opportunity to Work Act of 2011;

H.R. 2074, the Veterans Sexual Assault Prevention Act;

H.R. 2302, to amend Title 38, United States Code, to direct the secretary of Veterans Affairs to notify Congress of conferences sponsored by the department;

H.R. 2349, the Veterans’ Benefits Training Improvement Act;

H.R. 1263, to amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to provide surviving spouses with certain protections relating to mortgages and mortgage foreclosures; and

H.R. 1025, to amend title 38, United States Code, to recognize the service in the reserve components of certain persons by honoring them with status as veterans under law.