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Video of the Day
Swearing-in Ceremony for Department of Energy Secretary Rick Perry


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Today’s Hill Action
Senate Floor Schedule
The Senate reconvenes at 2 p.m. and is expected to resume consideration of a disapproval resolution (H J Res 37) that would nullify a Defense Department, General Services Administration and NASA rule that requires companies that bid for federal contracts to disclose whether they have been determined to have violated certain labor laws. A vote is expected at 6 p.m. on passage of the joint resolution. After that, the Senate may also vote on a motion to proceed to a disapproval resolution (H J Res 44) that would nullify a Bureau of Land Management rule related to procedures for developing resource management plans for public lands.

H J Res 37 – A joint resolution disapproving the rule submitted by the Department of Defense, the General Services Administration, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration relating to the Federal Acquisition Regulation.

Committee Hearings
None
House Floor Schedule
The House meets in a pro forma session.
Committee Hearings
None
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Sessions Recusal Puts Russia Probe Pressure on Choice for No. 2
The stakes are suddenly much higher for the veteran prosecutor nominated to be top deputy to Attorney General Jeff Sessions: Rod Rosenstein would shoulder all the pressure of the investigation into Russian meddling in the presidential campaign.

Sessions’ recusal last week from any investigations into last year’s campaigns makes the deputy attorney general responsible for the probe of Russian hacking and contacts with President Donald Trump’s associates. Rosenstein can expect tough questions at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday about his willingness to follow the facts wherever they lead — potentially even to his own boss and the White House.

Even Democrats who have demanded that Sessions resign acknowledge that Rosenstein, the U.S. attorney in Baltimore, is well-qualified after more than 25 years’ experience working in the Justice Department through Republican and Democratic administrations. So the focus will turn on how he intends to handle the explosive Russia investigation.
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Conway: New immigration order will take effect March 16
President Trump’s aide Kellyanne Conway on Monday said the new immigration executive order will take effect March 16 and no longer include Iraq.

“This is a very important week in this White House where the president is going to continue to act on, along with the Congress, major pieces of his legislative and executive agenda,” Conway said Monday morning on Fox News’s “Fox & Friends.

“That includes a new executive order today…and what’s different about it, it has an effective date of March 16, and there are the legal permanent residents were always excluded from it but that’s made much more clear now,” she continued.

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Trump Is Said to Reject Comey Assertion That Wiretapping Claim Is False
President Trump does not accept the contention of the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, that Mr. Trump falsely claimed that President Barack Obama had him wiretapped, a White House spokeswoman said on Monday.

The New York Times reported on Sunday that Mr. Comey had asked the Justice Department this weekend to publicly reject Mr. Trump’s assertions. Mr. Comey has argued that the highly charged claim is untrue and must be corrected, but the department has not released any such statement. A White House spokeswoman, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, was asked early Monday on ABC’s “Good Morning America” whether Mr. Trump accepted Mr. Comey’s contention.

“I don’t think he does,” she said. “I think he firmly believes that this is a story line that has been reported pretty widely by quite a few outlets,” said Ms. Sanders. She went on to cite several news reports about the F.B.I.’s investigation into links between Mr. Trump’s associates and Russia.
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Until tomorrow,
Lobbyit.com