When Congress gavels back in session Tuesday, lawmakers will be focused mainly on the effort to pass a major health care reform bill by the end of the year.
But other big issues await the House and the Senate, including an unemployment rate that has grown from 9.4 percent to 9.7 percent since they left for the summer recess and new estimates that show the national debt will grow by $9 trillion in the next decade. And the congressional schedule could get even more complicated if President Obama opts to ask for more money to fund a major troop increase in Afghanistan that the military has signaled it wants.
The jobless numbers alone will greatly complicate efforts in Congress to pass a major global warming bill that is also a top Democratic priority. While juggling these major issues, Congress will also take up a package of bills aimed at overhauling financial industry regulations that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has requested by the end of the year.
Health care
No matter what Congress puts on its agenda in the coming months, health care will undoubtedly overshadow it all. The bill, which is poised to become one of the largest and most difficult pieces of legislation the House or Senate has ever attempted to pass, so far has a $1 trillion price tag and is filled with components such end-of-life counseling and a government-run health insurance plan that has generated public anger and little agreement in Congress. It appears far more likely that Obama will call for Congress to essentially start over with a less ambitious proposal when he addresses a joint session of Congress on Wednesday.
White House aides are already negotiating with Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, a moderate, on a plan that would use the threat of a government-run insurance program to prod the private insurance industry to lower costs and make other consumer-friendly concessions.
Energy and global warming
The House in June passed a major energy reform bill aimed at curbing greenhouse gasses through a cap-and-trade system. The bill passed by a slim margin, with 44 Democrats voting against it in part because the cap-and-trade provision, which would charges fees for carbon emissions, was criticized as a job killer.
The Senate has postponed to later this month a plan to introduce it own global warming bill. It would have been nearly impossible to pass such a bill in the Senate before the recess and with the rising unemployment figures it is highly unlikely Democratic leaders can get enough support to pass a bill that imposes a cap and trade system or anything else that might hurt jobs.
Jobless claims
Summer backlash over the health care bill was coupled with public anger over the $787 billion stimulus package, which did little to produce the jobs promised when Congress approved it in February. August’s unemployment figures have only stoked criticism that the stimulus has done little to help the problem, though Democrats are arguing that the jobs numbers are lagging behind an otherwise improving economy. While some Democrats, including top Obama aides, have speculated that a second stimulus may be needed to boost the economy, Democratic leaders know they will have a nearly impossible time finding the votes to pass it. Instead, Congress will consider an extension of unemployment benefits that are set to expire. A Democratic leadership aide said top lawmakers in the House will “look at the numbers as well as other economic news” this week before deciding whether to take up an extension bill.
Afghanistan
When the most liberal House and Senate Democrats agreed earlier this year to vote for the money Obama said he needed to send an additional 21,000 troops to Afghanistan, many did so with the explicit understanding that there would be not be another escalation in troop numbers. But Pentagon officials are expected to ask for as many as 45,000 troops later this month. If additional funding is needed for this surge, Obama will have a hard time getting Congress to approve, especially since liberal Democrats feel they have been ignored on health care and public opinion polls show a majority oppose sending more troops to the country.
