D.C. Daily: June 29, 2012

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Senate
Yesterday's Action:
During business yesterday, the Senate took the following actions:

• Passed S. Res. 514, commemorating the victory of Loyola University Maryland in the 2012 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse National Championship.
• Continued consideration of S. 2237, the "Small Business Jobs and Tax Relief Act".

Today's Schedule:
The Senate will meet at 10:00 AM today. The Senate is expected to resume consideration of the transportation conference report.


House of Representatives
Yesterday's Action:
During business yesterday, the House took the following actions:

• Suspended the rules and passed H.R. 4251, the "Securing Maritime Activities through Risk-based Targeting for Port Security Act", by a vote of 402 yeas to 21 nays.
• Suspended the rules and passed H.R. 4005, the "Gauging American Port Security Act", by the vote of 411 yeas to 9 nays.
• Suspended the rules and passed H.R. 5889, the "Nuclear Terrorism Conventions Implementation and Safety of Maritime Navigation Act of 2012".
• Suspended the rules and passed H.R. 3412, the "Sergeant Richard Franklin Abshire Post Office Building Designation Act".
• Suspended the rules and passed H.R. 3501, the "SPC Nicholas Scott Hartge Post Office Designation Act".
• Suspended the rules and passed H.R. 3772, the "First Sergeant Landres Cheeks Post Office Building Designation Act".
• Suspended the rules and passed H.R. 3276, the "Reverend Abe Brown Post Office Building Designation Act".
• Suspended the rules and passed H.R. 1447, the "Aviation Security Stakeholder Participation Act".
• Suspended the rules and passed H.R. 5843, to amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to permit use of certain grant funds for training conducted in conjunction with a national laboratory or research facility.
• Suspended the rules and passed H.R. 3173, to direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to reform the process for the enrollment, activation, issuance, and renewal of a Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) to require, in total, not more than one in-person visit to a designated enrollment center.
• Passed H. Res. 711, recommending that the House of Representatives find Eric H. Holder, Jr., Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice, in contempt of Congress for refusal to comply with a subpoena duly issued by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, by a vote of 255 ayes to 67 noes.
• Passed H. Res. 706, to authorize the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to initiate or intervene in judicial proceedings to enforce certain subpoenas, by a vote of 258 yeas to 95 nays.

Today's Schedule:
The House will meet at 9:00 AM today. The House is expected to resume consideration of H.R. 5972, the "Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2013", subject to the rule passed on June 26, and H.R. 4348, the "Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2012, Part II", subject to a rule.


Executive Agencies
Significant Proposed Rules:

• Energy Department: reopening of the comment period for a regulation that would establish energy conservation standards for battery chargers and external power supplies. (Comment period ends 7/16/12)
• Environmental Protection Agency: revising the national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for particulate matter (PM).
• Environmental Protection Agency: making revisions to the primary and secondary national ambient air quality standards for particulate matter. (Comment period ends 8/31/12)

Significant Final Rules:

• Defense Acquisition Regulations System: amending the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to update policies on the submission of payment requests and receiving reports in electronic format.
• Defense Acquisition Regulations System: amending the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to address acquisitions using competitive procedures in which only one offer is received.
• Defense Acquisition Regulations System: amending the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to clarify the applicability to commercial items of DoD policies relating to the use of material containing hexavalent chromium.

Presidential Documents:
There were no Presidential documents printed today.


Supreme Court
The court's session yesterday marked the release of the final decisions for the October 2011 term. The court will hold the first oral arguments of the October 2012 term on Monday, October 1.

Yesterday, the court issued decisions in the following cases:

• United States v. Alvarez: The court ruled that the Stolen Valor Act, which makes it illegal to lie about military medals, is unconstitutional under the First Amendment.
• National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius: The court ruled that the Anti-Injunction Act did not bar a challenge to the law; that the individual mandate was unconstitutional under the Commerce Clause and Necessary and Proper Clause, but constitutional when interpreted as a tax; and that the federal government cannot withhold existing Medicaid funding for states that refuse to implement the Medicaid expansion.
• The case of First American Financial Corp. v. Edwards was dismissed by the court.