Tuesday, February 28
At 9:30 a.m., Chairman Simpson will hold a House Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on the FY13 budget request for the Indian Health Services.  Director Yvette Roubideaux is scheduled to testify.

At 10:00 a.m., the House Budget Committee will hold a hearing entitled, “Strengthening Health and Retirement Security.”  Witnesses are expected to include Richard S. Foster, Chief Actuary, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and Stephen C. Goss, Chief Actuary, Social Security Administration.

At 1:00 p.m., Chairman Simpson will hold a House Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on the FY13 budget request for the Bureau of Indian Affairs.  Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Larry Echohawk is scheduled to testify.

At 2:00 p.m., the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee is scheduled to hold a hearing on the FY13 budget request for the Department of Energy.  Secretary of Energy Steven Chu is scheduled to testify.  Live webcast or audio

Wednesday, February 29
At 10:00 a.m., the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee is scheduled to hold a hearing on the FY13 budget request for the National Nuclear Security Administration and Weapons Activities.  Thomas D’Agostino, Administrator of NNSA, Dr. Don Cook, Dep. Administrator for Defense Programs, and Brig. Gen. Sandra E. Finan, Principle Assistant Deputy Administrator for Military Application, are scheduled to testify.

At 1:00 p.m., Chairman Simpson will hold a House Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on the FY13 budget request for the Environmental Protection Agency.  EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson is scheduled to testify.  Live webcast or audio

At 2:00 p.m., the House Budget Committee will hold a hearing on the Department of Defense budget proposal for FY13.  Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are scheduled to testify.

Thursday, March 1
At 9:00 a.m., Chairman Simpson will hold a House Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on the FY13 budget request for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  Director Dan Ashe is scheduled to testify.

Floor Schedule

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2012
On Monday, the House will meet at 2:00 p.m. for legislative business. Votes will be postponed until 6:30 p.m.

Legislation Considered Under Suspension of the Rules:
1) H.R. 1433 - Private Property Rights Protection Act of 2012(Sponsored by Rep. James Sensenbrenner / Judiciary Committee)
2) Concur in the Senate Amendment to H.R. 347 - Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011 (Sponsored by Rep. Tom Rooney / Judiciary Committee)

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28TH, AND THE BALANCE OF THE WEEK
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the House will meet at 10:00 a.m. for morning hour and 12:00 p.m. for legislative business.

On Thursday, the House will meet at 9:00 a.m. for legislative business. Last votes expected no later than 3:00 p.m.

On Friday, the House is not in session.

Legislation Considered Under Suspension of the Rules:
1) H.R. 665 - Excess Federal Building and Property Disposal Act, as amended (Sponsored by Rep. Jason Chaffetz / Oversight and Government Committee)
2) H.R. 3902 - To amend the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to revise the timing of special elections for local office in the District of Columbia (Sponsored by Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton / Oversight and Government Committee)

H.R. 2117 - Protecting Academic Freedom in Higher Education Act (Subject to a Rule) (Sponsored by Rep. Virginia Foxx / Education and the Workforce Committee)

H.R. 1837- San Joaquin Valley Water Reliability Act (Subject to a Rule) (Sponsored by Rep. Devin Nunes / Natural Resources Committee)

 H.Res. __- Directing the Office of the Historian to compile oral histories from Members of the House of Representatives involved in the historic and annual Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, marches, as well as the civil rights movement in general, for the purposes of expanding or augmenting the historic record and for public dissemination and education (Subject to an Unanimous Consent Agreement) (Sponsored by Rep. Terri Sewell / House Administration Committee)

In the News

Idaho froths at federal milk rules for schools
By Sean Cockerham, February 23, 2012, www.idahostatesman.com
New federal rules for school meals ban flavored milks containing fat.

All four Idaho members of Congress signed a letter of objection Wednesday to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

“We do not want federal regulations in Idaho that limit our milk and dairy consumption in schools,” wrote Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch, and Reps. Mike Simpson and Raul Labrador.

Idaho is the third-largest producer of dairy products in the United States, and the executive director of the Idaho Dairymen’s Association said he appreciates the delegation’s effort. The national dairy industry also is protesting.

The U.S. Department of Education released new rules last month, saying they would result in millions of healthier school meals and fewer obese children. The standards double the amounts of fruits and vegetables in lunches, increase offerings of grain and set maximum amounts for calories.

The government requires schools to offer milk with each school lunch and breakfast, but the new rules ban flavored milk unless it is fat-free and state that plain milk must be either low-fat or fat-free.

The Idaho lawmakers’ letter argues that allowing low-fat flavored milk is consistent with government dietary guidelines and recommendations of the nonprofit Institute of Medicine.

“The point is that the federal government, the Department of Agriculture, should not be issuing essentially these rigid mandates that are not necessarily founded in the proper dietary science,” Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo said in an interview. “People can argue one way or the other on it, but we should let our local school districts and others involved in the school food program be the ones who make the decisions.”

USDA spokesman Aaron Lavallee responded that the “historic reforms” are consistent with Institute of Medicine recommendations by giving children the crucial nutrients of dairy while limiting sugars, fat and calories.

Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington, D.C., said there’s contention over whether flavored milk should be allowed at all.

“If it’s going to be chocolate milk or flavored milk, it needs to be limited in calories, and one way to do that is to make it only fat-free milk,” she said. “So you are kind of trading off some of the fat for sugar.”

Wootan said she doubted kids would refuse to drink chocolate milk just because there’s no fat. “You could add chocolate to mud and people would eat it. I don’t think the kids care at all.”

Although Idaho children drink more weekly servings of milk at school than children in any other state, most children across the country are drinking less milk, the letter from the Idaho congressmen said. Milk is competing with a lot of other beverage choices, they wrote, with school cafeterias and vending machines often stocking beverages that don’t have milk’s nutritional value.

“Kids like, and drink, low-fat flavored milk. The recent limitation on low fat flavored milk in the … school meal rule puts milk at a considerable disadvantage relative to competing beverages in schools,” they wrote.