Today in Washington D. C. - June 26, 2008

The big new in Washington D.C. is the Supreme Court (its decisions and the reactions to the decisions). One of the biggest items was the Court striking down of the D.C. Gun ban and affirming that the 2nd Amendment does give individuals the right to bear arm. ARRA News Service will report separately on the Supreme Court decisions.

On The Floor: The Senate resumed post-cloture consideration of the compromise FISA bill (H.R. 6304). Democrats opposed to the FISA bill, including Sens. Barack Obama, Russ Feingold, and Chris Dodd, are hoping to get a vote on an amendment to strip from the bill the critical immunity provisions for telecoms that cooperated with terror surveillance. Yesterday, the Senate voted 80-15 to proceed to the FISA bill and 79-16 to approve the Dodd substitute amendment to the housing bill. Action on any of these bills could occur during the day today, depending on what agreements are reached between senators. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has said he wants to finish the housing bill (House messages to accompany H.R. 3221), and address FISA, the war supplemental bill (H.R. 2642), and a Medicare payments fix before the Senate leaves for July 4th recess. Reid also has threatened to hold both FISA and troop funding over until July because he considered the housing bill a priority.

From Senate & News Sources: At a press conference this morning, Senate Republicans unveiled a new energy plan, the Gas Price Reduction Act of 2008. More on this in a separate ARRA posting. Meanwhile, Senate Republicans, led by Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri, are pushing Sen. Reid to let the Senate complete work on FISA reform legislation. Sens. Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Chris Dodd (D-CT) have been threatening to hold the bill up and Reid has suggested he could let it slip until after July 4th.

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