This week, the House is expected to consider five bills, ranging from land management to the federal debt. Congress will also meet in a Joint Session to hear an address by South Korean President Park Geun-hye.
Legislation under consideration this week includes:
Black Hills Cemetery Act (H.R. 291): conveys nine cemeteries located in Black Hills National Forest to local communities in South Dakota.
Vietnam Veterans Donor Acknowledgment Act of 2013 (H.R. 588): exempts the new Vietnam Veterans Memorial Visitor Center from the prohibition against donor recognition at federal memorials, allowing the Center to display an unobtrusive acknowledgement of donor contributions.
Pascua Yaqui Tribe Trust Land Act (H.R. 507): requires the Interior Department to place 20 acres of land owned by the United States and Tucson Unified School District into trust for use by the Pascua Yaqui tribe of Arizona.
H.R. 1406: allows private-sector employers to offer their workers paid time off instead of overtime pay for hours worked in excess of 40 hours per week. Employees would receive comp time at a rate of at least one-and-a-half hours of time off per every hour of overtime work. Use of comp time would be subject to employer mandates regarding when time could be used.
H.R. 807: allows the Treasury Department, if and when the debt limit is reached, to continue borrowing above that limit in order to pay the principal and interest on both government debt held by the public as it comes due, and on obligations from the Social Security trust fund. This would ensure that a failure to raise the debt ceiling would not cause the United States to default on its loans, and that Social Security recipients would continue receiving full benefits. The government could not, however, borrow additional money to pay troops, provide earned benefits to retired and disabled veterans, make payments to doctors and hospitals that treat Medicare patients, or loan funds to small businesses.