This Week on Capitol Hill

Congress distracts itself with a couple of dead-end bills on energy, housing and Iraq this week, while long-stalled action - on the Farm Bill, secret intelligence courts, consumer product safety and patent reform - simmers on the side.

Green for green: The House revives an energy bill that would extend and build out alternative energy incentives. While lawmakers are generally behind the bill's green tax credits, Republicans in the Senate and the president don't like its rollbacks on oil tax breaks that would pay for the green goods - and are almost certain to block final passage.

• see more on the energy bill

Forestalling foreclosures: The Senate tosses a life-line to families on the cusp of foreclosure with a bill that would funnel money toward rehabilitating ($4 billion) and refinancing ($10 billion) homes with shaky subprime mortgages. The deal-breaker is a provision that lets bankruptcy judges restructure mortgages for families falling into default.

• see more on housing blues

Sussing out Iraq: Senators will also test out another almost-sure-loser that would cut off funding for troop deployments to Iraq in four months.

• see more on Iraq

The House may also vote to set up a quasi-independent ethics office this week, while both chambers okay ongoing special trade status for Andean nations.

In the works - and possibly popping up for a floor vote in the upcoming weeks - are a toy consumer protection bill, patent reform, the Farm Bill and a foreign intelligence bill.

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: March 3, 2008.