The Senate begins debate today on changing U.S. military policy in Iraq as it considers the fiscal 2008 defense authorization bill. Amendments addressing the war are expected from both sides of the aisle.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (R-NV) and Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) are planning an amendment together that would require the military to begin decreasing the size of its deployed force within 120 days. The amendment would also call for a withdrawal of most combat troops by April 2008.
Senate Appropriations Chairman Robert Byrd (D-WV) and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) may also introduce their bill repealing the 2002 authorization for the Iraq war. And Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) is planning on sponsoring language setting minimum lengths of time between deployments to the Iraq war zone. His amendment would mandate that active-duty troops receive as much time at home as they served overseas. Reservists would receive three times as much time off from active duty as they spent deployed.
Foreign Relations ranking member Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN), Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH), and Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM), fresh from their recent defection from Bush’s Iraq strategy, will also be prominent during the debate. Domenici has already announced his support for a bipartisan bill intended to create conditions that would allow the military to significantly reduce the size of its forces in Iraq by next spring. The bill specifically calls for the implementation of the 70 recommendations offered by the Iraq Study Group and is sponsored by Sens. Ken Salazar (D-CO) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN).
Former chairman of the Armed Services Committee Sen. John Warner (R-VA) has said he is working on his own Iraq language as a substitute to the Democratic language. Warner is one of the chamber's most respected voices on defense issues and was the author of the Iraq supplemental language that passed the Senate earlier this spring.
In the House, the Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense will be marking up its spending bill this Thursday, although the details have not yet been announced.
Read the Center for American Progress’s recently released report that details a four-point strategy for reclaiming control of U.S. security in the Middle East:
Higher Education ActThe House will consider amendments this week to the Higher Education Act, which is intended to make college more affordable. Conservatives in the House are preparing for a fight by seeking to increase funding for Pell grants by taking $1.5 billion from new entitlement spending meant for institutions, including historically black colleges. House Education and Labor committee ranking member Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon (R-CA) has already filed an amendment in committee to shift the funds.
The bill’s price tag totals $18 billion in student aid including Pell grant funding, halving interest rates, increasing borrowing limits, limiting repayments to 15 percent of income, and allowing loan forgiveness of up to $5,000 for military personnel and civilian first responders.
HousingThe House is scheduled to take on legislation late this week that would overhaul the Section 8 housing voucher program. The bill is sponsored by Financial Services Housing Subcommittee Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) and would give housing authorities more flexibility in renting to poor and homeless persons and allow vouchers in certain cases to be used for purchasing manufactured homes on leased land. The HUD program currently issues housing vouchers to 2 million low-income people.
Come back on Tuesday for CAP Associate Director for Economic Mobility Andrew Jakabovics’ take on the Section 8 voucher program.
SCHIPÂSenate Finance Committee members are hoping this week to reach an agreement on and markup the reauthorization and expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Before the recess, questions about whether it’s possible to reach the $50 billion target set by the budget resolution and how that expansion would be paid for were still not answered.
House Energy and Commerce Committee Democrats want to reveal a draft of the bill this week. Along with the House Ways and Means Committee, leaders on the issue have said they plan to defer for two or three years pending a 10 percent physician payment cut. They also hinted at trying to get some money out of overhauling some of Medicare's payment systems, particularly within Medicare Advantage.
Read a recent report on key issues of the SCHIP reauthorization:
Discriminatory PayThe House Education and Labor Workforce Protections Subcommittee will examine a bill this week proposed by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) to increase the damages plaintiffs can seek under the Equal Pay Act on Wednesday. The law bars employers from paying employees in the same job different wages based on gender, but women's advocates say the statute has weak enforcement provisions that make it difficult for plaintiffs to win compensation. Her bill will likely be opposed by employer groups. The committee has recently passed a bill in response to the Ledbetter v. Goodyear Supreme Court case involving discriminatory pay, but that bill had not addressed the Equal Pay Act.
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