About

 
Helping Shape the GOP Game Plan

The 1946 law establishing separate policy committees for the U.S. Senate majority and minority parties was the result of a bipartisan effort to coordinate and enhance legislative policymaking. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison is the twelfth chairman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee (RPC), which is composed of GOP Senate leaders and the chairmen of the Senate's standing committees.


Formulating and Implementing Policy

Every Tuesday that the Senate is in session, Republican Senators gather in the Capitol for a policy lunch meeting, hosted by Chairman Hutchison. This is the one scheduled time each week for all Republican Senators to gather and discuss issues before the Senate, review the anticipated agenda, and discuss policy options.

Republican staff directors of the Senate committees meet weekly in the Policy Committee office to review pending issues. The RPC also hosts weekly briefings for Republican legislative directors as well as meetings with outside speakers and policy experts to facilitate discussion on key issues and explore new ideas for legislative action.


RPC Publications -- Communicating the Message

Senate Republicans have come to rely on Legislative Notices for the vital information they need to prepare for Floor debate and votes. RPC prepares a Legislative Notice for every major bill awaiting Senate Floor action that includes a summary of the bill provisions, related background information and anticipated amendments. The notices are placed on each GOP Senator's desk on the Senate floor and delivered to each Senate Republican office.

The experienced policy analysts at RPC also produce in-depth research papers on many of the complicated and controversial issues facing Congress. A variety of shorter papers are distributed on timely issues as they arise. All RPC policy papers and legislative notices are posted on the RPC web site within 24 hours of their release.


RPC Legislative Services

Senators and their staffs can quickly learn the status of Senate proceedings by tuning to RPC-TV on the Senate's closed-circuit cable system. Every day and night the Senate is in session, Channel 2 broadcasts continuous summaries of Senate Floor action and explanations of parliamentary proceedings, amendments, schedules, House activities and pertinent news. RPC video is combined with the live video and audio from the Senate Floor.

The Policy Committee also provides a 24-hour legislative news telephone hotline available to callers on and off the Hill. By dialing (202)224-6888 callers are given a recorded message of the latest floor schedule, summaries of bills and an extended legislative outlook. In addition, this info is available in the Senate Schedule section of the RPC website.


Keeping Tabs on Roll Call Votes

It's not unusual for Senators to cast 300 or more roll call votes on the Senate Floor in a single year. Senators and their staffs need a ready and reliable reference for recalling the details and the debates of these votes. The RPC's Record Vote Analysis, a service of the Committee since the 1940s, provides this. Each RVA includes the roll call showing how members of each party voted, a brief description of the vote, and highlights of the debate. The RVA on each bill gives a timely summation of the bill in its final amended form. The RVAs are published and distributed shortly after every roll call vote so that each Republican Senator's office has a cumulative notebook for easy reference.



*In Morning Business, with Senators permitted to speak up to 10 minutes each.

*Following Morning Business, the Senate will resume the motion to proceed to H.R. 7005, the AMT bill (vehicle for the auto bill).
*Cloture has been filed on the motion to proceed to H.R. 7005, the AMT bill. Unless agreement is reached, the VOTE will occur Friday morning.