This Week's Senate Committee Schedule

All eyes will be on the Senate floor Monday afternoon, which is when the no-confidence vote on Alberto Gonzales is expected, but there's a few interesting Senate hearings coming up this week as well…

The Armed Services Committee will examine the Dignified Treatment of Wounded Warriors Act, which is intended to address the debacle at Walter Reed and mistreatment found at other Veterans Administration facilities and to keep this stuff from happening again. I'm hopeful most Vets realize how fortunate they are to now have a Democratic Congress that actually cares about how they're treated as this certainly got no attention whatsoever from the do-nothing GOP Congress.

John Kerry (D-MA) and the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee will look at the devastating impact high gas prices are having on small business.

And the big-ticket item after the Gonzales vote is likely to be the Judiciary Committee hearings on the nomination of Leslie Southwick to be United States Circuit Judge for the Fifth Circuit. This may not be the biggest judicial-nominee fight the new Democratic majority will face, but it's a good test to see how Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and the Judiciary Committee handle judgeships being offered to people with a proven record of racial insensitivity.

"President Bush’s latest appeals court nominee, Leslie Southwick, has a disturbing history of insensitivity to blacks and other minority groups. The Senate should reject this nomination and make clear to the White House that it will reject all future nominees who do not meet the high standards of fairness that are essential for such important posts," said a New York Times editorial on Friday. "A non-negotiable quality for judicial nominees is that they must be committed to equal justice. Judge Southwick, whom President Bush has nominated for a seat on the New Orleans-based United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, repeatedly failed this test as a Mississippi state court judge."

The Judiciary Committee vote is expected on Thursday.

Here's the full Senate Committee schedule for the week:

Appropriations

Jun 13, 2007 at 10 a.m. Business meeting to markup proposed legislation making appropriations for Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2008. (Military Construction and Veterans' Affairs, and Related Agencies Subcommittee)

Jun 13, 2007 at 2 p.m. Business meeting to markup proposed legislation making appropriations for Homeland Security for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2008. (Homeland Security Subcommittee)

Jun 14, 2007 at 2 p.m. Business meeting to markup proposed legislation making appropriations for Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Homeland Security for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2008.

Armed Services

Jun 12, 2007 at 9:30 a.m. To hold hearings to examine the following nominations:

• Michael J. Burns, of New Mexico, to be Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Nuclear and Chemical and Biological Defense Programs
• Vice Admiral Eric T. Olson, USN, for appointment to the grade of admiral and to be Commander, United States Special Operations Command
• Thomas P. D'Agostino, of Maryland, to be Under Secretary for Nuclear Security, Department of Energy
• Michael G. Vickers, of California, to be an Assistant Secretary of Defense.

Jun 12, 2007 at 9:30 a.m. To mark up the Dignified Treatment of Wounded Warriors Act.

Commerce, Science, and Transportation

Jun 12, 2007 at 10 a.m. To hold hearings to examine the Universal Service Fund, focusing on assessing the recommendations of the Federal-State Joint Board.

Jun 14, 2007 at 10 a.m. To hold hearings to examine public safety and competition issues, focusing on the 700MHz auction.

Environment and Public Works

Jun 12, 2007 at 10 a.m. To hold hearings to examine the health affects of asbestos, focusing on methods of mitigating such impacts.

Finance

Jun 12, 2007 at 10 a.m. To hold hearings to examine trade enforcement for a 21st century economy.

Foreign Relations

Jun 12, 2007 at 2:30 p.m. To hold hearings to examine the efficacy of the Foreign Assistance Reform, focusing on successes, failures, and the next steps; to be followed immediately by a full committee hearing to examine the nomination of the Reuben Jeffery III, to be Under Secretary of State for Economic, Energy and Agricultural Affairs. (International Development and Foreign Assistance, Economic Affairs and International Environmental Protection Subcommittee)

Jun 13, 2007 at 2 p.m. To hold hearings to examine the following nominations:

• Anne Woods Patterson, of Virginia, to be Ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan
• Nancy J. Powell, of Iowa, to be Ambassador to Nepal
• Joseph Adam Ereli, of the District of Columbia, to be Ambassador to the Kingdom of Bahrain
• Richard Boyce Norland, of Iowa, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Uzbekistan
• Stephen A. Seche, of Virginia, to be Ambassador to the Republic of Yemen.

Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

Jun 12, 2007 at 2:30 p.m. To hold hearings to examine assessing telework policies and initiatives in the federal government. (Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia Subcommittee)

Jun 13, 2007 at 10 a.m. Business meeting to consider the following legislation:

• S. 1257: A bill to provide the District of Columbia a voting seat and the State of Utah an additional seat in the House of Representatives
• S. 274: A bill to amend chapter 23 of title 5, United States Code, to clarify the disclosures of information protected from prohibited personnel practices, require a statement in nondisclosure policies, forms, and agreements that such policies, forms, and agreements conform with certain disclosure protections, provide certain authority for the Special Counsel, and for other purposes
• H.R. 1254: Presidential Library Donation Reform Act of 2007
• S. Res. 22: A resolution reaffirming the constitutional and statutory protections accorded sealed domestic mail, and for other purposes
• S. 967: A bill to amend chapter 41 of title 5, United States Code, to provide for the establishment and authorization of funding for certain training programs for supervisors of Federal employees
• S. 1046: A bill to modify pay provisions relating to certain senior-level positions in the Federal Government, and for other purposes
• S. 1099: A bill to amend chapter 89 of title 5, United States Code, to make individuals employed by the Roosevelt Campobello International Park Commission eligible to obtain Federal health insurance
• S. 597: A bill to extend the special postage stamp for breast cancer research for 2 years
• H.R. 1255: Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2007
• S. 886: A bill to amend chapter 22 of title 44, United States Code, popularly known as the Presidential Records Act, to establish procedures for the consideration of claims of constitutionally based privilege against disclosure of Presidential records
• S. 381: A bill to establish a fact-finding Commission to extend the study of a prior Commission to investigate and determine facts and circumstances surrounding the relocation, internment, and deportation to Axis countries of Latin Americans of Japanese descent from December 1941 through February 1948, and the impact of those actions by the United States, and to recommend appropriate remedies, and for other purposes

Intelligence

Jun 12, 2007 at 2:30 p.m. To hold hearings to examine terrorist ideology.

Jun 14, 2007 at 2:30 p.m. To hold closed hearings to examine certain intelligence matters.

Judiciary

Jun 12, 2007 at 10 a.m. To hold hearings to examine rising crime in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Jun 14, 2007 at 10 a.m. Business meeting to consider the following legislation:

• S. 535: A bill to establish an Unsolved Crimes Section in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, and an Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Investigative Office in the Civil Rights Unit of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and for other purposes
• S. 456: A bill to increase and enhance law enforcement resources committed to investigation and prosecution of violent gangs, to deter and punish violent gang crime, to protect law-abiding citizens and communities from violent criminals, to revise and enhance criminal penalties for violent crimes, to expand and improve gang prevention programs, and for other purposes
• S. 1145: A bill to amend title 35, United States Code, to provide for patent reform
• S. Res. 105: A resolution designating September 2007 as "Campus Fire Safety Month"
• S. Res. 215: A resolution designating September 25, 2007, as "National First Responder Appreciation Day"

The committee will also consider the nomination of Leslie Southwick, of Mississippi, to be United States Circuit Judge for the Fifth Circuit.

Rules and Administration

Jun 13, 2007 at 10 a.m. To hold hearings to examine nominations to the Federal Election Commission.

Small Business and Entrepreneurship

Jun 14, 2007 at 9:30 a.m. To hold hearings to examine the impact of rising gas prices on America's small businesses.

Veterans' Affairs

Jun 13, 2007 at 9:30 a.m. To hold an oversight hearing to examine Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense, and Department of Labor cooperation on employment issues.