House Speaker Paul Ryan, R- Wisconsin, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, hope to find a quick resolution that ensures there is no real threat of pre-election shutdown.
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Congress hasn’t passed the spending bills needed to keep the government running past September, so both chambers have to pass a resolution before the end of the month to keep the lights on. Neither has publicly weighed in on how long a stopgap spending bill should last, with aides saying it’s an issue that will be discussed with members when they return to Washington this week.
FILE – In this January 27, 2014 file photo, the Capitol is seen from the Russell Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington.
Congress is set to return to Capitol Hill after a seven week break.
In the House, Representative Jeff Denham, Republican of California, gaveled in the abbreviated, election-season session that will last only about 20 days.
There’s a lot on the docket, but there’s only one thing that Congress must do in the coming month: Figure out a way to keep the government open before spending legislation expires October 1.
Five months after President Obama nominated him for the Supreme Court, Merrick Garland is still waiting for his Senate hearing.
Because if Clinton wins the White House and/or Democrats take control of the Senate, the two GOP leaders will lose considerable leverage if they’ve already passed a bill that locks in spending for several months.
Conservatives want to pass a six-month CR that would kick the larger budget fight into next year with a new president and Congress in place.
“Republicans were more interested in attacking Planned Parenthood and flying the Confederate flag – can’t make this stuff up, that’s really the truth – than protecting women and babies from this bad virus”, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said.
-Zika: Lawmakers in both parties say they want to pass legislation to help the government combat the Zika virus, but abortion politics stalled legislation to provide $1.1 billion before Congress left town in July.
The Senate will vote on once again on a bill to fund response to Zika Tuesday evening, but it still includes language targeting Planned Parenthood’s funding that previously killed the compromise measure. There have been dozens of local mosquito-borne transmissions in Miami and 72 travel-related Zika cases confirmed in Georgia as of September 1, according to the state’s Department of Public Health. For example, Republicans will press for increased defense funding and restrictions on nondefense spending and Democrats will advocate for stronger environmental legislation, gun control, and health and safety issues. They’re also trying to resolve differences between the two chambers over a program that allows Afghan civilians in danger of being harmed by the Taliban to receive visas and resettle in the United States.
Republicans have spent the last few weeks trying to shift media attention away from Donald Trump and his immigration policies and toward Hillary Clinton, her use of private email servers at the State Department and whether there was a murky line between her role as secretary of state and the Clinton Foundation.
– Iran: House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said last week that Republicans controlling the chamber will pass legislation addressing the Obama administration’s $400 million payment to Iran in January, made immediately after four USA prisoners were released. Senate Republicans quickly made their position clear: they wanted the election to determine the balance of the high court.
Rep. John Fleming, R-Louisiana, and Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kansas, filed a resolution to force a vote of impeachment before recess on the grounds that Koskinen intentionally lied about details surrounding the 2010 IRS scandal that targeted Tea Party organizations. Koskinen wasn’t commissioner at the time of the political fallout over Lois Lerner, who oversaw the IRS office that handled groups’ applications for tax-exempt status.
FBI Director James Comey, who frustrated Republicans with his recommendation not to prosecute Clinton for her handling of classified emails, is scheduled to testify before the House Judiciary Committee later this month.
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Ever since the GOP gained control of Congress in 2014 Republican leadership has promised to send President Obama a dozen appropriation bills.
