Spending bill tops Congress' agenda

This photo taken July 23, 2013, show the U.S. Capitol in Washington. Congress returns to work this week with a relatively short and simple agenda, vote to keep the government operating in the short term, then return home to campaign. National security threats from Islamic State militants and Russian aggression in Ukraine loom large, but September's session may be too short for lawmakers to do anything but talk about them.  (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
This photo taken July 23, 2013, show the U.S. Capitol in Washington. Congress returns to work this week with a relatively short and simple agenda, vote to keep the government operating in the short term, then return home to campaign. National security threats from Islamic State militants and Russian aggression in Ukraine loom large, but September's session may be too short for lawmakers to do anything but talk about them. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. House and Senate return this week for a short period before members head back home to campaign for November's election.

At the top of their to-do list is a temporary spending bill to keep the government running at least until after the election.

The House has 12 workdays scheduled, and congressmen plan to leave for home by Oct. 2. The Senate hasn't released a final calendar but is tentatively set to finish by Sept. 23.

Foremost for many lawmakers is a measure that would fund the government at its current level and avoid a repeat of the October 2013 shutdown. It must be approved by the end of the federal fiscal year, Sept. 30, to keep the government operating.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has said he wants the funding to last until early December, which would give the House and Senate more time to pass appropriations bills once the elections are over.

U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark, said it may be tough to get the spending measure -- called a continuing resolution -- through the House, but he doesn't expect lawmakers to shut down the government over a resolution that keeps spending at the current levels.

"Congress, bless its heart, is caught up in its re-election campaigns, and sometimes we forget we have a job to do and it's one of our most important duties," Womack said.

He said any lawmaker considering voting against the continuing resolution needs to rethink that position.

"I don't think anybody in their right mind would want to shut the government down on the eve of possibly having a very good outcome in an election," Womack said.

Republicans are expected to hold their majority in the House. Control of the Senate is expected to come down to a handful of seats, including Arkansas' race between Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor and Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton.

U.S. Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., said he expects the resolution to be approved in both chambers.

"The only thing that's really pressing, that has to be done, is the continuing resolution, and I feel very confident that we will come up with a clean continuing resolution and go ahead and get the funding we need to keep the government running," he said.

Before Election Day, the House and Democrat-controlled Senate are also expected to vote on several pieces of legislation that lawmakers know the opposing chamber won't pass, but which they can use to motivate voters.

In a memo sent to House Republican members Thursday, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California said House leaders plan to send a package of bills related to job creation and energy to the Senate.

"In order to remind Harry Reid and Senate Democrats of our positive solutions to build a robust economy and foster job creation, the House will send a single jobs package to the Senate assembled from the jobs bills House Republicans have passed this Congress," it states.

Included on the list are approval of the Keystone Pipeline, changes to the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and a bill to keep the executive branch from approving new regulations on coal.

Womack said House Republicans want to keep attention on Democrats and President Barack Obama.

"I'm optimistic that we're going to be very careful not to do anything crazy here at the eleventh hour to put the focus back on ourselves," Womack said.

While a vote schedule hadn't been announced Friday afternoon, the Senate's Democratic leaders are expected to bring up several bills that they know their Republican colleagues will block.

Potential issues include a proposed constitutional amendment on campaign finance, raising the federal minimum wage, allowing people to refinance student loans and pressing businesses to pay women as much as men.

Several of the bills have been blocked before. Boozman said the bills will likely be blocked again.

"They know none of that stuff is going to get passed. Those are all show votes," he said.

A handful of other pressing proposals could get a vote while members are in Washington.

One proposal would allow the Export-Import Bank to continue operating, at least for a few months. The 80-year-old agency provides credit financing, loan guarantees and direct loans to help American companies sell products overseas. If it isn't reauthorized by Sept. 30, the bank will be eliminated. Supporters of the bank say it keeps American manufacturers competitive in foreign markets. Opponents say the bank interferes with the free market.

Pryor supports reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank, his spokesman Lisa Ackerman said. Cotton will consider whatever bill gets to a House committee or the House floor, his spokesman Caroline Rabbitt said.

Also possible is a resolution authorizing the use of military force against the Islamic State, a group that has taken over parts of Iraq and Syria, and has conducted mass killings and killed two American journalists, U.S. Rep. Tim Griffin said.

Griffin, R-Ark., said committee chairmen are already working on ways to address the potential threat and that lawmakers will be briefed while they are in Washington. Griffin said he has asked that the classified briefings done for House leaders be available for all House members.

"There will be a lot of talk about 'What does the president want us to authorize? What does he need for us to authorize?'" He said, "we've got to figure out what we're going to do."

Rabbitt said dealing with the group is also a priority for Cotton.

With just over two weeks before House and Senate members return to their districts, not much more than the spending bill is likely to be approved until the election is over, Boozman said.

"It's just not very many working days to get a lot accomplished," he said. "The things that are a priority will get done. The other things will drag out to the lame-duck [session]."

A short lame-duck session -- when Congress is in session after a November election and before the beginning of the new Congress in January -- may occur, but what would be considered depends on who wins in the elections, Boozman said.

"Sometimes there is a tendency to go ahead and get things done with the current group of elected officials, and sometimes there's a tendency to push things on into the next Congress, so we'll just kind of have to wait, wait and see," he said.

All together, members of the state's delegation have more than 100 proposed bills and resolutions awaiting action. If the legislation isn't addressed during a lame-duck session, members will have to start over from scratch.

Griffin is running for Arkansas lieutenant governor and won't return to Congress in 2015. Before he leaves office, he said, he wants to pass legislation allowing funding for post-high-school education to be spent at more two-year or technical schools; give U.S. Customs and Border Control flexibility to move surveillance equipment on federal land without having to ask other agencies for permission; and make it easier for rural fire departments to get old equipment from the Department of Defense.

"The key is what can not just be introduced but what actually has a chance of passing. That becomes a very narrow group of bills," Griffin said. "So, we're going to see what we can do. I try to be realistic about what can pass."

Pryor hopes to pass several jobs and manufacturing bills, his spokesman said. The legislation includes tax changes to help companies remain in or return to the U.S., and ends tax breaks for companies that move overseas. It also requires taxpayer-funded projects to be built with American-made materials.

Boozman said he hopes to pass legislation allowing the creation of a Desert Storm Memorial during the lame-duck session. The bill has passed in the House and is waiting in the Senate.

"We're very, very close," he said. "The really frustrating thing is you have to start over in the next Congress if you don't get it done. It's very cumbersome to get a piece of legislation through the entire process."

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