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Congressional Climate Bill Tracking

S. 1177 – Every Child Achieves Act of 2015
H.R. 2646 – Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act of 2015
S. 1146 – Healthy School Meals Flexibility Act
H.R. 612 – To preserve and protect the free choice of individual employees to form, join, or assist labor organizations, or to refrain from such activities.
H.R. 467 – STEM Opportunities Act of 2015
H.R. 2775 – Remote Transaction Parity Act of 2015
S. 191 – Educating Tomorrow’s Workforce Act of 2015
S. 108 – Financial Aid Simplification and Transparency Act of 2015
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Video of the Day

Congress Prepares to Welcome Pope Francis
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Today’s Hill Action

Senate Floor Schedule

The Senate is not in session today.

Committee Hearings
There are no committee hearings scheduled today.

House Floor Schedule

The House is not in session today.

Committee Hearings

There are no committee hearings scheduled today.
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Why The Welfare Reform Bill Is Falling Apart

In mid-Ju­ly, hopes in the Paul Ry­an-led House Ways and Means Com­mit­tee were
high about the pro­spects for the biggest bi­par­tis­an wel­fare-re­form ef­fort
in 20 years. Re­pub­lic­ans and Demo­crats were en­gaged in the ef­fort and ex­press­ing
op­tim­ism both pub­licly and privately.

Two months later, things are in danger of fall­ing apart.

Prom­in­ent out­side con­ser­vat­ives at groups in­clud­ing the Her­it­age Found­a­tion
and Amer­ic­an En­ter­prise In­sti­tute have made clear they would op­pose some
of the ma­jor as­pects of the draft bill in­tro­duced this sum­mer that would over­haul
the Tem­por­ary As­sist­ance for Needy Fam­il­ies pro­gram. Demo­crats are in turn
sig­nal­ing a will­ing­ness to walk away if the le­gis­la­tion moves too far to
the right.
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GOP ties anti-abortion push to papal visit

Democrats have a lengthy wish list for Pope Francis when he addresses Congress this
week. But Republicans are seizing on the Catholic leader’s historic visit to make
good on one of their top social priorities: Tough new abortion restrictions.

As they rally behind a long-awaited measure that would ban abortions after 20 weeks
of pregnancy, GOP lawmakers are tying their messaging to the teachings of the Catholic
Church, which opposes the practice. And the presence of Pope Francis on Capitol
Hill this week shines an even brighter spotlight on the legislation, which has long
been a top priority of advocacy groups that oppose abortion.
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‘Garbage men get used to the smell of bad garbage’

John Boehner spends his weeks in Washington getting bashed by House conservatives,
some of whom are itching to try to oust him from the speakership. Then, on the weekends,
he darts around the country to raise money for a Republican majority that can be
described charitably as inefficient, but in reality is closer to unmanageable.

“Garbage men get used to the smell of bad garbage. Prisoners learn how to become
prisoners, all right?” Boehner said in a phone interview this weekend from Seattle
during a fundraising trip to the Pacific Northwest, referring especially to the
grind of constant travel. “You can teach yourself to do anything, especially if
you’re committed to a cause. I came to Washington to fight for a smaller, less costly
and more accountable government.”
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Until tomorrow,
Lobbyit.com
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