This Week on Capitol Hill

The House has a short, symbolic, week ahead of it, with one vote lined up attempting to override a veto of the children's health bill. It's the second time the president nixed the bill, which would double the scope of SCHIP, the state-run program to insure low-income kids; it's also almost certain to be the second time the House falls short of an override.

The Senate picks up where it left off before Christmas on a federal eavesdropping bill that would give the courts and Congress - some - oversight of taps into foreign calls made to the US. Two competing versions of the bill disagree on exactly how much oversight to give and on whether the telecoms that cooperated with the feds on a previous, illegal, surveillance program should get immunity from civvy libby lawsuits.

Senators will also vote on an Indian health bill, S 2532, as well as a defense authorization bill, HR 4986.

Down the Road

Off the chamber floors, Congress is scurrying to pull together a "stimulus package" by next week that would hopefully breathe some much needed mojo into the economy (even though a minority of economists say a stimulus un-needed, while a growing number say it's too late to help).

Uncharacteristically, congressional leaders and the president are working together - and seem to be narrowing in on a compromise package that would divide up about $150 billion between businesses (largely as tax incentives) and spenders (look forward to your rebate check in the mail). The one haggling point is whether and how to funnel money to non taxpayers (that is, low-income Americans), who some say are more likely to immediately pump any cash they get right back into the economy.

For more on what to expect in the year to come, see cJ's Ahead To '08 overview.

If you want to let your Congressfolk know where you stand on any of the issues above, you can email them through Congress.org, because...

Hey, it's your democracy too.

- teamJoe

Next update: January 28, 2008