The most critical items facing Congress are keeping the government funded and addressing the Zika virus by allocating more funding.
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Lawmakers left Washington seven weeks ago without resolving a dispute over money for Zika, which can cause severe birth defects.
The Zika virus began spreading in the continental US last month and more than 50 people have been infected with the virus in Florida. But the scramble to solve that problem will not stop Republicans from casting votes on other issues created to register their opposition to the Obama administration.
Democrats want a short-term funding bill that would keep the government running only through Christmas; Republicans want one that stretches until the spring.
“The Republican Senate will be remembered for how little it did”, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said last week.
Last month, Senate Democrats blocked a $1.1 billion spending bill over what they called poison pill provisions, including language that would deny Zika-related funds from being sent to Planned Parenthood and a provision that would loosen environmental regulations on pesticides.
Experts predict Congress could approve at least some extra money in September and attach it to a measure that keeps the rest of the government funded.
Congress must only pass a short-term spending bill that would prevent the government from shutting down on October 1, which seems sure to pass, and, more daunting, pass a bill that would provide money for the fight against the Zika virus. But lawmakers are expected to punt that fight to after the election.
Congressional leaders’ immediate focus will be preventing a government shutdown, a prospect created by lawmakers’ failure to pass the 12 annual spending bills that tell federal agencies how to spend billions in taxpayer dollars.
Members of the rebellious House Freedom Caucus want any funding fix to last into March so that the new Congress and new president will set spending priorities.
If members do not pass a continuing resolution to extend the deadline, the country could face another government shutdown.
After September, the House and Senate will adjourn for October and part of November, leaving only a handful of weeks after the Nov. 8 election for lawmakers to finish any work and adjourn by their target date of December 16. But Stan Collender, executive vice president at public relations firm Qorvis MSLGROUP, told CBS News, “You can’t rule it out”.
Meanwhile, the Senate continues without confirming or even considering President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, for the seat left vacant by the late Antonin Scalia.
“There definitely are senators who are feeling a lot of pressure to do this, particularly in the South, and (Senate Majority Leader) Mitch McConnell wants to help (Florida Senator) Marco Rubio get re-elected so that Republicans have a better chance to keep their Senate majority”, Huder said.
The four-week stretch will play out against the backdrop of this year’s unusual and unpredictable presidential election between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, which could impact the sensitive congressional negotiations that lie ahead. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said Congress and the public are still missing key pieces of information. “But if Republicans lose the Senate, and Secretary Clinton remains in the White House, they ought to think long and hard about not proceeding with Garland”.
“I’m not going to get into any of those things”, Speaker Paul Ryan said in his last press conference before recess.
-Hillary Clinton: Furious the FBI didn’t recommend charges against their political rival over her private email server, Republicans now are demanding that the Justice Department open a new investigation into whether the Democratic presidential nominee lied during testimony past year before a House panel investigating the deadly 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya.
Lawmakers nearly certainly will ramp up those efforts on Capitol Hill. The panels – the Senate Aging, Judiciary and House Oversight Committees – are expecting briefings from Mylan this week.
He asked, for example, for all communications to and from Clinton aides Cheryl Mills or Huma Abedin and people seeking employment at the department or foundation. That would allow the Senate to vote on the must-pass legislation and leave town early, effectively forcing the House to either accept the Senate-passed bill or take the blame for a government shutdown. Much of their wish list is unlikely to get floor time for the rest of this year in this GOP-controlled Congress.
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Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., is also promising a vote on some kind of legislation to register GOP opposition to a $400 million cash delivery to Iran made by the Obama administration in January.
