The Final Five: July 20, 2012

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

• Rejected the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to consideration of S. 3364, by a vote of 56 yeas to 42 nays.
• Began consideration of the nomination of Michael A. Shipp to be District Judge for the District of New Jersey. A vote on cloture motion for confirmation of the nomination will occur at 5:30 PM on Monday, July 23.

Today's Schedule:
The Senate will not meet today. The next meeting of the Senate is scheduled for 2:00 PM on Monday, July 23.


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

• Passed H.R. 5856, the "Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2013", by a vote of 326 yeas to 90 nays.
• Passed H. Con. Res. 133, to authorize the use of the rotunda of the United States Capitol for an event to present the Congressional Gold Medal to Arnold Palmer.
• Agreed to the Senate amendment to H.R. 2527, the "National Baseball Hall of Fame Commemorative Coin Act".

Today's Schedule:
The House will not meet today. The next meeting of the House is scheduled for 2:00 PM on Monday, July 23.


Executive Agencies
(You can view the entire Federal Register here.)

Significant Proposed Rules:

• Environmental Protection Agency: withdrawing the proposal to collect certain information about concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs).
• Fish and Wildlife Service: establishing the 2012-13 early-season hunting regulations for certain migratory game birds.

Significant Final Rules:

• Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service: amending the phytosanitary treatment regulations to provide generic criteria for new irradiation treatment facilities in the Southern States of the United States.
• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: granting the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection authority to supervise certain nonbank covered persons for compliance with Federal consumer financial law and for other purposes.
• Personnel Management Office: issuing final regulations to establish that an employee's same-sex domestic partner qualifies as a family member for purposes of eligibility for noncompetitive appointment based on overseas employment.
• Personnel Management Office: its regulations on evacuation pay and the separate maintenance allowance for duty at Johnston Island to ensure that same-sex domestic partners of Federal employees and the children of such domestic partners have access to these benefits to the same extent as spouses of Federal employees and their children.
• Personnel Management Office: changing regulations concerning alcohol and drug abuse counseling programs for employees and concerning agencies' use of appropriated funds to provide child care subsidies for lower-income civilian employees.
• Personnel Management Office: adding same-sex domestic partners to the class of persons for which an insurable interest is presumed to exist.

Presidential Documents:

• Presidential Proclamation 8841: proclaiming July 15 through July 21, 2012, as Captive Nations Week.
• Presidential Memorandum: delegating to the Secretary of State the function and authority specified in section 570(e) of the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 1997 (Public Law 104-208) to waive and make the specified certification to the Congress regarding the prohibition on new investment in Burma under section 570(b) of the Act.
• Presidential Determination No. 2012-12: determining that it is important to the national interest to furnish assistance under the Act, in an amount not to exceed $10 million from the United States Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Fund, for the purpose of meeting unexpected and urgent refugee and migration needs

Supreme Court
The Court has now completed its work for the October 2011 term. The Court will hold the first oral arguments of the October 2012 term on Monday, October 1.