Congressional Calendar May 27, 2010

The House Rules Committee meets at 9:30 a.m. ET to set the terms for floor debate on an “extenders” bill. The measure will extend tax cuts and spending for social programs until later in the year. The House hopes to pass the measure before they adjourn for the Memorial Day recess on Friday.

After the extenders bill, the House will move to a war supplemental funding bill, which provides money for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as support for the Haitian earthquake and the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The bill also contains a controversial amendment from Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Penn., that calls for the repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy that bans homosexuals from serving openly in the armed forces.

Another round of hearings on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill begin on Thursday with a possible ray of hope. So far, the “top kill” method for plugging the leak, which involves filling the blowout preventer with heavy drilling mud followed by cement, appears to be working. BP America Chairman and President Lamar McKay and Steven Newman, CEO of Transocean, give the House Natural Resources Committee an update at 10:00 a.m. ET. Government officials, headlined by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson also make the rounds on the Hill. Salazar will speak to the House Appropriations Interior Subcommittee at 10:00 a.m. ET. Jackson testifies before a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee at 2:00 p.m. ET. The House Judiciary Committee begins its investigation into the legal liability issues involved in the massive oil spill at 9:30 a.m. ET. They’ll hear from the survivors of the Deepwater Horizon explosion as well as legal counsel for BP, Transocean, Halliburton, and others.

The House Foreign Affairs and Homeland Security Committees hold a joint hearing on the security of the southern border. Representatives from the Departments of State, Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Customs and Border Protection testify.

House leadership hold dueling press conferences in the morning. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., leads off at 11:00 a.m. ET; House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, follows at 11:45 a.m. ET.

It’s guaranteed to be a long day inside the Capitol, so stay with Fox News for all the latest.