Although there is a backlog log legislation piling up, the only topic of discussion in both the House and Senate that anyone is paying attention to right now is: "What is in the debt ceiling package?"
Both Democrats and Republicans will have to concede some of their priorities to advance the legislation to President Obama's desk for signing by Tuesday evening; however, no one has seen the legislation yet. Similar to the health-care packed passed last Congress, this legislation is most likely several hundred pages. Hill staff will be combing through it page by page for the next 48 hours to ensure their respective members know exactly what they are voting for.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on July 26 that it will not issue a final version of revised ozone national ambient air quality standards by July 29 as planned.
"We look forward to finalizing this standard shortly," EPA press secretary Brendan Gilfillan said. "A new ozone standard will be based on the best science and meet the obligation established under the Clean Air Act to protect the health of the American people."
The final rules issued for debit card fees set a per-transaction debit swipe fee of 21 cents, which is significantly higher than the Federal Reserve€™s originally proposed rate of 7 cents or the compromise rate of 12 cents. The rules also add 0.05 percent of the transaction amount for fraud prevention. View an analysis of the final Federal Reserve rule on debit card fees, effective October 1, 2011.