WASHINGTON — With just two weeks left before the House’s scheduled summer break, lawmakers are scrambling to see how much they can finish and what important work may be left for the pre-election legislative sprint this fall.

House and Senate leaders had hoped to make progress on the appropriations process last week, but a minibus including the annual military construction budget was stalled over a dispute over Veterans Affairs health care funding. The conflict will make it difficult for Congress to get any appropriations measures finalized before August.

Meanwhile, the conference committee working on the annual defense authorization bill is still hopeful they can iron out the differences in the two chambers’ $716 billion military budget plans and get that policy measure done before leaving town.

If so, it will mark the first time in a decade the authorization bill was passed before the start of the new fiscal year, and the 58th consecutive fiscal year that Congress has managed to adopt the sweeping defense legislation.

Tuesday, July 17

House Oversight — 10 a.m. — 2154 Rayburn
U.S.-Israel relations
The committee will hear from outside experts on the impact of the new American embassy in Jerusalem.

House Veterans' Affairs — 10:30 a.m. — 334 Cannon
VA accountability
Acting VA Secretary Peter O’Rourke and union officials will testify before the committee on the impact of last year’s VA accountability legislation.

House Small Business — 2 p.m. — 2360 Rayburn
Veteran-owned businesses
In a joint hearing with the House Veterans’ Affairs committee, the panel will hear from outside experts on the verification process for support to small businesses owned by disabled veterans.

Wednesday, July 18

Senate Commerce — 10 a.m. — 253 Russell
Shark research
Outside experts will testify on medical and technological breakthroughs that have come out of shark-based research projects.

Senate Foreign Relations — 10 a.m. — 419 Dirksen
Nominations
The committee will consider several State Department nominations.

House Veterans' Affairs — 2 p.m. — 334 Cannon
Forever GI Bill
VA officials and outside groups will testify on progress with the implementation of new GI Bill provisions passed last year.

House Foreign Affairs — 3 p.m. — 2172 Rayburn
Central Asia
Outside experts will testify before the committee on human rights and national security issues in central Asia.

Thursday, July 19

House Intelligence — 9 a.m. — 1100 Longworth
Chinese espionage
The committee will hear from outside experts on the Chinese threat to U.S. research and innovation efforts.

Senate Homeland Security — 10 a.m. — 342 Dirksen
Nominations
The committee will consider several nominations, including senior officials for the Merit Systems Protection Board.


Leo covers Congress, Veterans Affairs and the White House for Military Times. He has covered Washington, D.C. since 2004, focusing on military personnel and veterans policies. His work has earned numerous honors, including a 2009 Polk award, a 2010 National Headliner Award, the IAVA Leadership in Journalism award and the VFW News Media award.

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