Obama administration officials will head to Capitol Hill next week to brief lawmakers on the growing threat from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Thursday.
A number of outside experts also are expected to hold briefings with members about the group.
{mosads}“These hearings and briefings will be absolutely critical in helping us take the appropriate steps necessary to achieve our objective: the defeat of our terrorist enemies,” McCarthy wrote in a memo to his conference outlining the GOP’s September agenda. [READ HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER’S SEPTEMBER AGENDA.]
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson will testify before the House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday morning about threats to America, while the Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on the growing violence in Libya.
Terrorism is crowding onto the agenda as Congress returns from a five-week summer recess.
Lawmakers had expected to be focused on passing a short-term funding bill to avert a government shutdown on Sept. 30, but both chambers also have their eye on the November election and will be bringing midterm messaging bills to the floor.
The House, McCarthy said, will take up a package of House-passed jobs bills that have languished in the Democratic-led Senate, including one that repeals ObamaCare’s 30-hour definition of full-time employment. The lower chamber will also vote on an energy package that includes approving construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline.
A bill sponsored by Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who is seeking to unseat Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu, will also get a vote. The legislation would ensure people can keep their health insurance plan under ObamaCare.
Finally, the House will pass a bill that would compel the Treasury secretary to make public more information about the IRS scandal, as well as another that would condemn the Obama administration for failing to inform Congress before it swapped five Taliban fighters for the release of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.
Absent from the memo is any discussion about reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank. The bank’s charter expires on Sept. 30, but GOP leaders are expected to negotiate a short-term extension that would keep the bank alive through early next year.
“Our conservative agenda is about restoring competency and common sense in government and giving Americans the freedom to live their lives, run their businesses, and raise their families,” McCarthy wrote in the memo. “It’s time to create a 21st Century government that isn’t bogged down in unnecessary meddling and harmful regulating, but is instead honest, simple, and effective.”
A spokesman for Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called the memo “bizarre” and razzed Republicans for considering canceling the last week of the September session to return to the campaign trail.
“It is clear the House Republican majority has absolutely no agenda and no interest in doing anything other than spouting rehashed talking points. Time and time again, this partisan, part-time GOP Congress has turned its nose up and turned its back on the American people,” said Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill.
“The American people deserve solutions from their elected leaders — not the distraction, dysfunction and disarray of House Republicans.”