The week ahead

Will we know this week if there is to be a General Election in Britain? If Gordon Brown wants polling day to be 25th October he must announce it by Tuesday. If he wants 1st November or later he can hold off an announcement this week. The Tory Party Conference in Blackpool will be interesting to watch! Will Brown steal the limelight? Will the Tory Party put on a show of unity and resolution?


Coverage of the Conference can be found at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/bbc_parliament/ and the Conservative Party's webpages cover


The agenda: https://conservativepartyconference.com/admin;jsessionid=69C430CF21A415432E10A32D92C231BE?service=direct&context=DelegateType/wrap.menuLink&sp=register_wrap&sp=235765&sp=S&sp=agenda

Conservative Coverage: http://www.conservatives.com/tile.do?def=conference.2007.home.page


In the United States the Senate resumes consideration of H.R.1585, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 on Monday - which happens to be the first day of fiscal year 2007-08.


The House of Representatives has 23 suspension bills and the following bills which are subject to a rule


H.R. 3246 - Regional Economic and Infrastructure Development Act of 2007
H.R. 2740 – MEJA Expansion and Enforcement Act of 2007
H.R. 928 – Improving Government Accountability Act
H.R. 3648 - To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to exclude discharges of indebtedness on principal residences from gross income

Continuing Resolutions

As mentioned in an earlier post, Congress frequently has to pass 'Continuing Resolutions' to ensure there is legal authority for the Government to spend money after the start of a new fiscal year when the appropriation bills have not been passed in time. (the alternative is a government shutdown on October 1st). Congress hassed passed CRs every year since 1997.

Definition on Senate website - Legislation in the form of a joint resolution enacted by Congress, when the new fiscal year is about to begin or has begun, to provide budget authority for Federal agencies and programs to continue in operation until the regular appropriations acts are enacted.

Senator Jim DeMint has proposed legislation (S.2070 - http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:S.2070:) the “Government Shutdown Prevention Act” bill, which if passed would put a CR in place automatically so long as individual appropriations bills remain outstanding. Roll Call comments "That could lift some of the pressure on Members to pass massive omnibus bills that have received little scrutiny."

Where has "Voter Confidence..." Gone?

There have been a number of updates on HR.811 (Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2007) this month - but we still await its appearance on the floor of the House of Representatives. Roll Call reported this week (Morning Business - Steven T Dennis) -

The paper ballot bill remains in the legislative freezer in the House, and the odds of sending anything to the president that will take effect before the 2008 elections seem almost nonexistent.

“Obviously that has generated a lot of concern from states and local officials,” said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) of the legislation, which calls for a voter-verified paper trail in next year’s presidential election. “I met with them and we’re trying to work on this,” he said. Hoyer noted that the Senate is unlikely to pass any bill this year.

“As a practical matter, Sen. [Dianne] Feinstein [D-Calif.] said she’s not going to pass a bill until next year and it’s not going to take effect until 2010,” Hoyer said. “That being said we want to pass the bill as soon as possible but we want to make sure we have the votes.”

Election Fever

Speculation continues that a snap General Election may be called by the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown. Unlike the US, General Elections are not on fixed dates. The Queen dissolves Parliament and announces the date when the new Parliament will first meet. The usual practice is that she acts on the advice of her Prime Minister (there has been academic speculation as to whether, in certain circumstances, she can refuse - such as when a defeated PM in a hung parliament asks for an immediate second election before his likely successor is appointed). Dissolution is automatic on the fifth anniversary of the first meeting of a parliament - so Gordon can pick a date between now and mid May 2010.

So will Gordon take advantage of Labour's current lead in the opinion polls (and the troubles the Tories are in)? We'll see. For further coverage see http://politics.guardian.co.uk/labour2007/story/0,,2178308,00.html

How They Voted

How do MPs and Peers rate for rebelliousness and attendance?

The website http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/ is a useful indicator. Do be careful - the assumptions behind the statistics are open to debate - and the site indicates how the figures are arrived at. It's not perfect - but as I stated above a useful indication is given.

By copying the tables into excel it is possible to sort the data so provide 'league tables' of rebelliousness and attendance.