This Week in Congress: November 13, 2012

This week, the House will consider 10 bills, ranging from energy to trade.

Legislation under consideration this week includes:

H.R. 6190: prohibits the EPA from preventing the distribution, sale, and consumption of over-the-counter inhalers that use a chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) propellant. These inhalers have been prohibited under the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer since December 31, 2011.

Streamlining Claims Processing for Federal Contractor Employees Act (H.R. 6371): transfers authority to process claims for unpaid wages to workers hired by federal contractors from the Government Accountability Office to the Department of Labor.

European Union Emissions Trading Scheme Prohibition Act of 2011 (S. 1956): directs the Secretary of Transportation to prohibit, if in the public interest, any operator of a U.S. civil aircraft from participating in the European Union’s emissions trading plan.

H.R. 6586: extends until December 31, 2014, federal indemnification of commercial space launch companies against third-party claims associated with launch accidents.

Senate Amendment to H.R. 2606: authorizes the Department of the Interior to issue permits for the planning, construction, and operation of a natural gas pipeline, meter station, and associated facilities within the Gateway National Recreation Area in New York and New Jersey. The Senate’s amended version of this bill, which the House passed in February, clarifies that the Park Service has the authority to propose modifications to any property lease made under this bill.

H.R. 6570: consolidates and modifies certain federal agency reporting and comment requirements associated with the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). For ARRA, the congressional Budget Office and Government Accountability Office would be required to comment on federal agencies’ ARRA reports once a year, rather than within 45 days of the report. For TARP, The Office of Management and Budget would be required to report on the program annually, rather than semi-annually.

Senate Amendment to H.R. 2453: directs the Treasury Department to mint and issue coins commemorating Mark Twain. The Senate’s amended version of this bill, which the House passed in April, specifies that the surcharges provided to the University of California, Berkley will benefit the Mark Twain Project at the Bancroft Library.

H.R. 6116: amends the Organic Act of the Virgin Islands to transfer the final review authority of the Virgin Island Supreme Court from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Stop Tobacco Smuggling in the Territories Act of 2012 (H.R. 5934): amends the federal criminal code to bring American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Guam within the jurisdiction of the federal prohibition on contraband cigarettes and smokeless tobacco.

Russia and Moldova Jackson-Vanik Repeal and Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012 (H.R. 6156): provides normal trade relations (NTR) status to Russia and Moldova and ends Jackson-Vanik restrictions on both economies. These restrictions currently prohibit the president from declaring permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) status to any communist nation that restricts free emigration, as the Soviet Union did. It also requires the president to submit to Congress a list of individuals believed to be involved in the Sergei Magnitksy case and other human rights abuses in Russia and establishes sanctions against these individuals.