As Government Shuts Down, Congress Faces Postponed Hearings, Reduced Staffing
Congressional activity has been up in the air since the federal government shutdown began at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday. Members are working with limited staff, their offices said. Several hearings and events -- but not all -- have been postponed as the shutdown hit amid ongoing uncertainty.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
The House Communications Subcommittee postponed its 5 GHz spectrum hearing that had been scheduled for Tuesday morning (CD Oct 1 p10). The House Judiciary Committee also delayed a markup and subcommittee hearing set for Tuesday. The Senate Commerce Committee postponed a Wednesday afternoon hearing on scientific research. The Senate Intelligence Committee started Tuesday still planning to hold a 2:30 p.m. Thursday mark-up of surveillance legislation, a spokesman for Senate Intelligence Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said early in the day. But he said later in the afternoon the markup is off. Feinstein had described proposed legislation at a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing last week but hasn’t posted the text online, the spokesman said.
Some Senate activities focused on surveillance are tentatively expected to continue. The Senate Judiciary Committee is still planning a Wednesday hearing, and aides haven’t heard otherwise yet, said a committee spokesman. That hearing is planned for 10 a.m. in 226 Dirksen, with two panels of witnesses. They are Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and National Security Agency Director Keith Alexander in the first, and Georgetown Law professors Laura Donahue and Carrie Cordero, as well as Edward Felton, who directs the Center for Information Technology Policy, in the second. The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, contrary to last week’s agenda note promising a cancelation if the government was shuttered, still plans its Friday public hearing on surveillance law, it said in a notice. The board is relying on carry-over funding from FY 2013 to stay funded through the workweek, it said.
Members of Congress have limited staffing during the shutdown. “In the absence of FY 2014 appropriations or a continuing budget resolution for the Legislative Branch, Senator McCaskill’s office has been forced to close effective October 1, 2013,” said a bounceback email message for a Claire McCaskill spokesman. “The office will reopen when a continuing budget resolution is approved.” It described the Missouri Democrat as “disappointed” with the shutdown. She mentioned on her Twitter account that most of her staff was furloughed, with “half a dozen folks working very hard” Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1bpeSQZ). The office of Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Mark Pryor, D-Ark., also had an apologetic shutdown-specific voicemail message citing budgetary problems and a “limited number of staff” available to answer phones and respond to any queries.
Other events have also been postponed due to the shutdown. The FCC delayed a Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau event titled “Cybersecurity Forum: Safeguarding Children and Families on the Internet,” initially scheduled for Tuesday, it said in a Monday notice on the shutdown. The FCC also postponed a 911 location accuracy workshop, scheduled for Wednesday. NTIA canceled an Oct. 7 workshop on ConnectED. A D.C. Bar event on the Freedom of Information Act and privacy issues initially set for Wednesday afternoon was postponed.
The shutdown seemed likely to continue at our deadline Tuesday. The House had requested the Senate engage in a conference committee, which the Senate rejected Monday night and debated Tuesday. President Barack Obama again lambasted House Republicans’ insistence on tying Obama’s Affordable Care Act to the funding resolution. “The timing is not good,” he said during a Tuesday afternoon news conference. “It is a drag on the economy.” Obama reiterated he won’t negotiate on “ideological demands” linked to government funding. (jhendel@warren-news.com)