Thursday: Customs enforcement, debt

by Jordain Carney - 02/11/16 9:34 AM ET

The Senate will take up a customs enforcement bill Thursday after it was temporarily stalled by a fight over an Internet tax ban.

Senators are scheduled to take a procedural vote on the legislation, with the measure potentially clearing the Senate on Thursday if senators can get an agreement to yield back debate time.

{mosads}Senators had hoped to pass the customs enforcement bill last year but punted the legislation after it got bogged down by a provision permanently extending the ban on Internet access taxes.

But Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said earlier this week that the customs bill was moving forward as part of a deal to vote, separately, on legislation that would enable states to collect a sales tax from online retailers this year.

The Senate is also expected to vote Thursday on Leonard Terry Strand’s nomination to be a U.S. district judge for the northern district of Iowa.

Meanwhile, the House will take up legislation to require Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to appear before the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee to give a report before the government’s debt ceiling needs to be raised.

Votes in the House are expected between 3:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.

Tags Dick Durbin Jack Lew