Tobacco and trade will join ethics and appropriations on a crowded congressional agenda this week.
In addition to the continued work on spending measures, efforts to reform the House ethics process will take center stage in the coming days. Even with a heavy load of appropriations work facing them, the difficult issue of ethics is likely to be uppermost in House members' minds this week, as the bipartisan ethics reform task force's recommendations are expected on the floor Wednesday or Thursday.
Amendments are due to the House Rules Committee by 10 a.m. Tuesday, with a hearing on the rule for floor debate set for 5:30 p.m. House Rules Chairman Solomon already has served notice that only a few bipartisan amendments will be made in order, and members of both parties are crafting language to address the three main complaints voiced about the reform proposal: that it would allow outside groups to file complaints directly with the committee, that it fails to permit the committee to dismiss complaints it is deadlocked over pursuing, and that it would unduly expand the power of investigative subcommittees. With these amendments in the offing, most members believe the House will adopt the package.
And all eyes are on President Clinton this week as the White House unveils its new fast track plan and the president weighs in with his much-delayed judgment on the settlement between the tobacco industry and the state attorneys general.
Administration officials late last week told Senate Democratic staffers that Clinton will make his views on the tobacco deal known Wednesday. However, should he speak on the issue today, the Labor and Human Resources Committee has planned a hearing Tuesday at which they will invite administration officials to testify. The Senate Agriculture Committee has scheduled its second hearing on the deal for Thursday morning, with the focus on how the settlement affects farmers.
Invited to speak are three agriculture experts from academia, the Indiana attorney general, Rep. Bob Etheridge, D-N.C., and officials from tobacco grower organizations in North Carolina and Virginia.
The Democratic Senate Tobacco Task Force plans to continue its examination of the deal Wednesday, when officials from the American Cancer Society and the American Lung Association stop in for a visit.
The Cancer Society supports the deal, with revisions, but the American Lung Association does not.
Also sharing the spotlight likely will be the president's request for fast track authority.
Details of the president's plan on fast track are expected to be released Wednesday.
Trade Representative Barshefsky will testify about fast track before the Senate Finance Committee Wednesday, a hearing that will also focus on the committee's revised version of the Caribbean Basin Initiative.
The House Ways and Means Committee is not likely to get to the fast track proposal this week, a committee source said, as other issues crowd the agenda. Topping the list is a hearing that will focus on "ways to make the IRS more accountable and more efficient," the source said.
Treasury Secretary Rubin will be appearing Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss IRS reform legislation sponsored by Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., and Rep. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, as well as Clinton's own proposal.
The House Commerce Committee will begin to mark up its FDA reform legislation at a Health and Environment Subcommittee meeting slated for Wednesday.
All three parts of the House effort, the food and nutrition bill, the medical devices bill and the prescription drug bill, will be considered.
Sources say a full committee markup is likely to follow very soon thereafter.
The Senate FDA legislation remains on the floor, where a cloture vote to consider the bill is tentatively pending for Tuesday.
On the appropriations front, the Senate expects to complete work on the fiscal 1998 Interior spending bill this week and turn its attention to the District of Columbia appropriations measure.
The House will attempt to complete work on the Labor-HHS bill and then will turn to the Commerce-Justice-State and Treasury- Postal bills.
House Education and Workforce Chairman Goodling this week will offer to the Labor-HHS bill his floor amendment to prohibit the Clinton administration from spending money to develop any new national education test.
Work on House-Senate conference reports moves to the center of appropriations action this week, as the two chambers delve into the often complicated process of resolving differences in their spending bills.
House and Senate appropriations staffers early this week hope to finish discussions on revised subcommittee allocations that would ease the way for many of the appropriations conference committees to finish their work.
If appropriators reach agreement on the revised 602B allocations, conferees on the Defense, Transportation, Legislative Branch and Agriculture bills may meet this week.
At the same time, the House and Senate will continue work on the funding measures and any appropriations conference reports that might become available.
Tuesday, the House District of Columbia Appropriations Subcommittee will mark up its FY98 bill.
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