Congress reconvenes Tuesday after the summer recess with only a few weeks to sort out several major issues, including how to fund the federal government in the new fiscal year and whether to approve a nuclear deal with Iran.
Other important deadlines are also on the horizon for lawmakers, such as reauthorization of the Highway Trust Fund, which expires on Oct. 29. Lawmakers are also grappling with whether to revive the Export-Import Bank after letting the federal agency’s charter expire July 1.
If it all goes the way the House and Senate Republican majorities want, lawmakers will disapprove of the Iran deal and at least pass a temporary federal spending bill by the end of the month, without the kind of infighting and partisan gridlock that in the past has led to a partial government shutdown.
Republicans may end up disappointed on Iran, however, as the GOP effort to block the deal is beginning to crumble. Enough Democratic support has come in to block GOP efforts to kill the accord — votes to disapprove of the deal will happen in the middle of the month, and an attempt to override of Obama’s veto could follow.
The big spending bill will also pose challenges to Republican leaders. Conservatives are pushing House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to include a provision in the spending legislation that would defund Planned Parenthood. That group has been featured in undercover videos that some say show that it sells fetal body parts, and the ninth video was released just last week.
If enough conservatives insist on defunding the organization, it could make it difficult, if not impossible, to pass a measure to keep the government funding without significant Democratic support.
The Planned Parenthood fight could complicate what many say was already going to be a tricky negotiation on spending. Republicans have sought to boost defense spending, but have allowed sequester cuts to remain for other parts of the government, and GOP leaders admit this will have to be sorted out.
McConnell confirmed that Congress is headed for an epic fight on spending once members return to work.
“We are going to have some big battles here in the second half of the year over spending,” McConnell told WYMT television in Kentucky.
“Our Democratic friends want to spend more on everything. We’d like to spend more on defense, so there will be a grand negotiation here in the fall between the two sides over just how much the discretionary budget of the United States government ought to be and how that ought to be spent.”
Despite the difficult road ahead, both McConnell and Boehner have signaled they are unlikely to make any move that triggers a shutdown fight, and an August Quinnipiac University poll will likely reinforce their position. It found a plurality of the public would blame the GOP if the government closes.
“The president made it very clear he is not going to sign any bill that includes defunding of Planned Parenthood,” McConnell told WYMT. “That’s another issue that awaits a new president.”
Republican strategist Ron Bonjean told the Washington Examiner that the GOP leadership will face turbulence in the fall from the conservative rank and file unless it comes up with a way to satisfy the right on Planned Parenthood. House Republicans plan to hold hearings and there could be separate legislation addressing federal funding of the organization.
“The key will be to find another legislative means beyond shutting down the government that will help conservatives accomplish this goal,” Bonjean said.
Republican leaders are also hoping the two chambers will agree by late October on a multi-year authorization plan for highway projects that won’t be blown up by a fight over reauthorizing the Ex-Im Bank. But the outlook here isn’t as rosy as the GOP would like.
Work hasn’t begun on a compromise bill to fund highway projects that can pass the House and Senate, leaving just a few weeks to construct the kind of long-term spending deal that has eluded Congress for years.
The Senate has already passed a multi-year highway bill that is partly funded by revenue increases and cutting the dividend rate for big banks. But the House, led by Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., intends to draft its own plan to fund transit projects using revenue from international tax reform.
“Chairman Ryan’s plan is to fund a long-term highway bill with revenues from a transition to a new international tax system,” a Ways and Means spokesman told the Examiner.
This article appears in the Sept. 8 edition of the Washington Examiner magazine.
