Lawmakers to tackle energy bill, IRS emails

The House will consider legislation to boost domestic energy production, while the Senate will take up a bipartisan measure to consolidate federal job training programs. 

Energy

House Republicans plan to tout the measures as ways to lower gas and energy prices. But Democrats are likely to raise objections about environmental impact.

{mosads}Among the energy bills is one from Rep. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), who is a running in a competitive race to unseat Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.). Gardner’s measure would require expedited approval of applications for natural gas exports.

Another bill on tap would require approval for constructing oil or natural gas pipelines at the U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada in order to boost oil, natural gas and electricity trades. 

The third energy production measure would require the Obama administration to conduct oil and natural gas lease sales that it has delayed or canceled, as well as overhaul the energy permitting process. 

Job training programs 

The Senate will consider legislation to overhaul requirements throughout the federal job training system.

Bicameral negotiators announced a deal last month between the House-passed SKILLS Act and a Senate bill that advanced out of committee in 2013 but never made it to the floor. The measure is a rare election-year agreement that both parties say would help Americans find jobs.  

The agreement was struck by a bipartisan group of seven House and Senate members, including the fourth-ranking Senate Democrat, Patty Murray (Wash.), House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline (R-Minn.) and Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-Iowa).

Negotiators said that federal workforce laws were overdue for reauthorization for more than a decade. The legislation would authorize the programs for six years and require them to document whether thresholds are met for helping people find jobs.

IRS emails

The House Oversight Committee is slated to hear testimony in response to a subpoena from Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen on Monday night about the missing Lois Lerner emails. 

The IRS has claimed that a computer crash resulted in the loss of nearly two years’ worth of Lerner’s emails from January 2009 to April 2011. Republicans aren’t buying it.

The prime-time hearing, which will start at 7 p.m., is the second hearing on the issue after Koskinen appeared before the House Ways and Means Committee on Friday. Unlike House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the House Ways and Means Committee did not issue a subpoena to secure Koskinen’s testimony. 

Primaries

Voters will head to the polls Tuesday in Mississippi, Colorado, Maryland, New York, Oklahoma and Utah. Two longtime incumbents, Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) and Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), are facing competitive contests.

Monday

The Senate will convene at 2 p.m. Votes will take place at 5:30 on the following district court judge nominations:

– Paul G. Byron to be a United States District Judge for the Middle District of Florida

– Carlos Eduardo Mendoza to be a United States District Judge for the Middle District of Florida

– Beth Bloom to be a United States District Judge for the Southern District of Florida

– Geoffrey W. Crawford to be a United States District Judge for the District of Vermont

The House will vote at 6:30 p.m. on seven bills under suspension of the rules, including:

– S. 2086, to direct the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to recognize any 30-day emergency period declared by a state governor due to a shortage of residential heating fuel as one during which FMCSA regulations shall not apply to any motor vehicle providing residential heating fuel.

– H.R. 4092, to direct the Energy Department to review data on existing federal programs for developing energy efficiency in schools.

– H.R. 4081, to require the secretary of Energy to prepare a report on the impact of thermal insulation on both energy and water use for potable hot water.

– S. 1044, to direct the Interior secretary to install a plaque with the words President Franklin Delano Roosevelt prayed with on D-Day in the D.C. World War II memorial.

After votes, the House will debate a bill, H.R. 4413, to reauthorize the Commodity Futures Trading Commission through 2018.

Tuesday

After completing work on nominations, the Senate will likely turn to the job training programs bill.

The House will take up six bills under suspension of the rules, including:

– S. 1681, the Senate-passed intelligence authorization for fiscal 2014.

– H.R. 1098, to reauthorize appropriations for through fiscal 2018 for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention projects to reduce the incidence of traumatic brain injury. 

– H.R. 1281, to extend a grant program for screening, counseling and other services related to heritable disorders. 

– H.R. 3548, to amend the Public Health Service Act to expand the definition of trauma to include thermal, electrical, chemical, radioactive and other extrinsic agents.

– H.R. 4080, to authorize appropriations for trauma care programs through fiscal 2019.

– H.R. 4631, to reauthorize federal grants to support autism research for five years.

Wednesday – Thursday

The House will consider the three energy production bills, while the Senate will continue consideration of the job training measure.