Call them the “Do we have to?” months for congressional Republicans. As in “Do we have to take hard votes, or really do anything at all, between now and the elections?” Bloomberg’s Anna Edgerton runs through bills Congress could possibly take up. Take the farm bill:
The House Agriculture Committee last week passed a GOP-only version, H.R. 2, with Democrats withholding their votes mostly in opposition to a provision expanding work requirements for some SNAP recipients. The Senate Agriculture Committee’s Republican and Democratic leaders say they’re working on a bipartisan bill that will largely ignore the House changes to food stamps. The current farm legislation expires at the end of September, and a simple extension may be necessary.
Or possible changes to the Republicans’ own signature tax plan, including making individual tax cuts permanent to match the already-permanent corporate tax cuts:
… Republicans disagree on whether this idea is a political winner, in part because the effort would remind people that their tax cut is only temporary. McConnell said he would consider it, but he’s skeptical there’s a desire in the Senate to vote this year. Republicans won’t use a fast-track budget process that would allow them to act without Democratic support.
Separately, tax professionals have urged lawmakers to make technical corrections to the tax legislation, including provisions affecting net operating losses, charitable deductions, and full and immediate expensing. But so far, Republican leaders have signaled they won’t vote on a stand-alone bill before November.
And so on. The House and the Senate, though both Republican-controlled, can’t get on the same page about a host of important issues, or leaders don’t want to take votes that will make their members look really bad in the run-up to an election in which they’re expected to lose ground.