This past week, the House conducted memorial services for those murdered and injured in the Arizona shootings last weekend. The House of Representatives also passed resolutions and conducted general speeches concerning this horrific act of violence.
On Thursday, many members of Congress traveled to Tucson, Ariz., for the national memorial service where the president and dignitaries addressed the nation. The memorial service was moving, inspiring and especially uplifting when the president announced to the crowd that the recovering Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords opened her eyes for the first time since the shooting during a hospital visit by her husband. By weeks end, the speaker and the majority leader were holding meetings to decide when the legislative business should resume in the House of Representatives.
The Senate remained on a scheduled recess this week, ready to reconvene on Tuesday, Jan. 25, when both the Senate and the House will gather in the hall of the House of Representatives to hear the presidents State of the Union address at 9 p.m. The House GOP will conduct their annual agenda retreat in Baltimore, Md., over the weekend in an effort to hone their legislative agenda priorities for the upcoming session of the 112th Congress.
These annual retreats serve to unify the party as to the message and accomplishments they wish to see achieved this session, as well as to prioritize the legislative items into first-, second- and third-tier levels. Also expected to emerge from this retreat is the exact date on which the House will begin debating the health care repeal bill, HR 2, for full House consideration. All indications are that the House of Representatives will conduct the debate and vote on HR 2 by the end of next week.
The Senate GOP conducted their daylong agenda retreat locally at the Library of Congress last week and the Republican leadership and ranking members of committees are crafting their legislative priorities during their January recess period.
When the Senate reconvenes on Tuesday, Jan. 25, the Senate rules change will need to be resolved with both leaders working together to try to come to an agreement. This would require the rules change to be debated and voted on during that first day back. If agreement cant be reached, expect a bit of a tug-of-war to occur between the two leaders. If Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) cant come to an agreement on these opening-day rules for the Senate, then the majority leader may set a Senate history-altering precedent that would restructure the Senates 200-plus years of tradition. This basic disagreement between the majority and minority party in the Senate could hamper the Senates routine business of allotting committee assignments for the 112th Congress as well as other housekeeping items that serve to run the day-to-day operations of the U.S. Senate. In short, if the two Senate leaders cant come to some agreement as to how to resolve the rules changes being pushed by the Senate majority party, then expect much of the Senate business to grind to a halt.
When both houses of Congress meet for the 220th State of the Union address, let's see if politics-as-usual prevails or if the idea to have Democrat and Republican members of Congress intermingle and sit together to hear the address will be the new norm. Traditionally, the two parties sit on opposites sides of one another in the House chamber. However, meetings are ongoing to see if this longtime tradition can be changed In the name of civility. Finally, in the name of comity, the president has invited all 104 of the freshman members of Congress down to the White House for a casual meet-and-greet the night before the State of the Union address.
Stay tuned to see if this attempt to calm the rhetoric in D.C. continues in the weeks and months ahead.
Elizabeth B. Letchworth is a retired, elected United States Senate secretary for the majority and minority. Currently she is a senior legislative adviser for Covington & Burling, LLC and is the founder of GradeGov.com
