Expectations for the next 20 days of work in Congress—the last 20 days of work before the election—are pretty damned low. They are back in Washington, only to be greeted by headlines like this: "Congress returns with just weeks to prevent government shutdown."
Federal agencies ranging from the National Park Service to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention could face closures unless lawmakers vote on a stop-gap spending bill to keep the government running past the end of September.
Lawmakers also will confront a pressing problem they left behind in July: How to pay for efforts to combat the Zika virus, which is now being transmitted by mosquitoes in Florida, has been linked to the death of an infant in Texas, and has been declared a public health emergency in Puerto Rico. […]
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.
The big deal, though, is government funding, and avoiding a shutdown just a month before the election. This is going to be a big fight for Paul Ryan because of course it is. Everything is. The maniacs in his conference want to pass a short-term continuing resolution that will force a future President Clinton to have a fight in February or March over government funding. Because they love fighting over keeping the government funded.
Democrats and less crazy Republicans want a very short-term continuing resolution that will make Congress come back in the lame duck session right after the election and do its job—passing actual appropriations bills. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid previewed this fight last week, and laid down a marker: "We are not doing anything into next year. Republicans should be aware of that right now."
Meanwhile, Republicans are also trying to figure out how best to sabotage the first 100 days of Hillary Clinton's presidency. In other words, it's business as usual for congressional Republicans.
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