This week, the House will consider 13 bills, ranging from domestic violence to Iran.
Legislation under consideration this week includes:
National Blue Alert Act of 2011 (H.R. 365): encourages the development of Blue Alert plans by establishing a national communications network to disseminate information when a law enforcement officer is seriously injured or killed in the line of duty.
H.R. 1864: prohibits the wages earned by an employee working in more than one state from being subject to income tax in any state other than the state of the employee’s residence and the state in which the employee is working for more than 30 days a year.
H.R. 3534: adds new requirements to companies that provide individual surety bonds for work on federal contracts to ensure everyone gets paid what they are owed in the event a contract isn’t carried out.
H.R. 4119: provides law enforcement with expanded authority to prosecute people who use underground tunnels to smuggle contraband into the US from Mexico.
H.R. 2621: designates 5,000 acres of land in southern Colorado as the Chimney Rock National Monument and increases protections for this landmark, which is considered sacred by some American Indian tribes.
H.R. 2745: gives the city of Mesquite, Nevada, an extension to purchase certain parcels of land controlled by the Bureau of Land Management. The Bureau would then use these funds to pay for habitat conservation and ground water monitoring in Clark County, Nevada.
H.R. 3874: conveys several cemeteries located in the Black Hills National Forest of South Dakota to the local groups currently maintaining them.
H.R. 205: allows American Indians to more easily arrange for businesses to be built on tribal lands by allowing them to enter into leases of their lands held in trust by the federal government without approval from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
H.R. 4240: authorizes grants to promote democracy in North Korea and urges China to halt forcible repatriation of North Korean refugees.
H.Res. 568: urges an increase in economic and diplomatic pressure on Iran in order to prevent the country from acquiring nuclear weapons.
H.R. 4045: allows members of the National Guard and the Reserves serving extended tours to be permitted to take previously promised time off.
Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2012 (H.R. 4970): Originally passed in 1994 with overwhelming bi-partisan support, the Violence Against Women Act created the first federal legislation that classifies domestic violence and sexual assault as crimes, and provides federal resources to encourage community-coordinated responses to combating violence. This legislation extends the authorization but does so while rolling back critical programs and fails to adequately protect Tribal victims, LGBT victims, victims living in subsidized housing and on college campuses, and undocumented immigrants.
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 (H.R. 4310): authorizes $642.5 billion for defense programs in FY 2013. This is $8 billion more than the cap for defense set by last year’s Budget Control Act (debt ceiling agreement) and $63 billion more than defense would receive if the scheduled defense sequester were to occur.