The US Congress returns from a holiday recess today facing a daunting summer workload and a pending deadline to fund the federal government or risk a shutdown.
The funding fight is shaping up as a major partisan brawl against the backdrop of an intensifying campaign season. The US Republican Party is eager to avoid another mess as it struggles to hang on to control of Congress and try to take back the White House next year.
It is already deep into the blame game with the US Democratic Party over who would be responsible if a shutdown does happen.
‘MISGUIDED STRATEGY’
US House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner has denounced what he calls Democrats’ “dangerously misguided strategy,” while House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi accuses Boehner and the Republicans of pursuing “manufactured crises.”
The funding deadline does not arrive until Sept. 30, but legislators face more immediate tests and the prospects for any major legislative accomplishments arriving on US President Barack Obama’s desk in the remainder of the year look slim, although there is talk of the US Senate following the House and moving forward on cybersecurity legislation.
A highway bill probably also would be the way legislators try to renew the disputed federal Export-Import Bank, which makes and underwrites loans to help foreign companies buy US products. The bank’s charter expired on Tuesday last week due to congressional inaction in a defeat for business and a victory for conservative activists who turned killing the obscure agency into an antigovernment cause celebre.
Depending on the Obama administration’s nuclear negotiations with Iran, legislators could also face debate on that issue. Top Republicans have made clear that they are prepared to reject any deal the administration reaches.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker on Sunday said: “Well, we have gone from dismantling their program to managing proliferation. I mean, that is our biggest concern, that is already done.”
Beyond the issue of Iran, the Senate opens its legislative session with consideration of a major bipartisan education overhaul bill that rewrites the much-maligned No Child Left Behind law by shifting responsibility from the federal government to the states for public school standards.
The House also is moving forward with its own, Republican-written education overhaul bill. Even if both bills pass, it is uncertain whether Congress would be able to agree on a combined version to send to Obama.
All issues are likely to be overshadowed by the government funding fight and suspense over how — or if — a shutdown can be avoided.
Democrats are pledging to oppose the annual spending bills to fund government agencies unless Republicans sit down with them to negotiate higher spending levels for domestic agencies.
Republicans, who want more spending for the military but not domestic agencies, have so far refused.
If there is no resolution by Sept. 30, the government will enter a partial shutdown.
SHUTDOWN THREAT
It is an outcome that all involved say they want to avoid. Yet Democrats who watched Republicans pay a steep political price for forcing a partial shutdown over Obama’s health care law in 2013 — and come within hours of partially shutting down the Department of Homeland Security this year — claim confidence that they have the upper hand.
Republicans insist that Democrats are running a risk by opposing spending bills for priorities like troop funding — but are not yet discussing how they will proceed if Democrats do not back down.
As a result, it looks likely that current funding levels could be temporarily extended beyond Sept. 30 to allow more time to negotiate a solution.
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