{"id":2021900,"date":"2023-09-05T06:20:02","date_gmt":"2023-09-05T10:20:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lawmakers-return-to-capitol-hill-with-ticking-clock-and-hefty-to-do-list\/"},"modified":"2023-09-05T06:22:34","modified_gmt":"2023-09-05T10:22:34","slug":"lawmakers-return-to-capitol-hill-with-ticking-clock-and-hefty-to-do-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lawmakers-return-to-capitol-hill-with-ticking-clock-and-hefty-to-do-list\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawmakers rush back to Capitol Hill with limited time and extensive agenda."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Flawmakers-return-to-capitol-hill-with-ticking-clock-and-hefty-to-do-list%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2021900&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Lawmakers Face\u2063 Uphill Battle as Congress Returns from Recess<\/h2>\n<p>As lawmakers \u2062begin to\u2062 return from\u200c their annual\u2063 August recess, \u2063both\u200b chambers of Congress face a \u200dlaundry list of legislation \u2062that\u2062 must be passed before the end \u2064of the\u2064 month.\u200b But finding a path forward is \u2064easier said than done.<\/p>\n<p>The Senate reconvenes \u200con Tuesday, one\u2063 week\u200d earlier than the \u200bHouse, which will come back in session on Sept. 12. That gives the upper chamber a handful more\u200d working days than the 11 the House has to pass all 12 appropriations bills to fund the government through the next fiscal \u2064year.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3>SENATE CONSIDERS MOVING SPENDING BILLS FORWARD, SETTING UP FIGHT \u2063WITH HOUSE GOP<\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>But the \u200dappropriations bills are not the only legislation on their plate. They will \u2063need\u2062 to tackle other must-pass measures, such as\u200d the farm bill.<\/p>\n<h3>Here\u2019s a \u200bbreakdown of what\u200c Congress needs to pass \u2064or punt \u200bby the end\u2062 of the month and what demands are grinding the process to\u2063 a halt.<\/h3>\n<h3>Annual spending bills<\/h3>\n<p>Congress must pass its annual budget before the new fiscal year\u200d begins on Oct. 1, or else lawmakers risk a government shutdown.\u2064 Budget disagreements are \u2064typical as both parties fight over spending priorities, with a final deal often not being made until the\u200c eleventh hour after a marathon\u200c voting session.<\/p>\n<p>The budget\u200c consists of 12 bills\u200d that must \u200dpass through both chambers before being sent to the president&#8217;s desk. In \u2063recent years, these \u200dbills\u2063 have been combined into just one piece of legislation known as an omnibus,\u200d allowing Congress to advance its \u2064entire budget with\u2064 just \u2064one vote.<\/p>\n<p>However, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), facing pressure from his right\u200d flank due to \u2062Republicans&#8217; narrow House majority,\u2063 has committed to getting the chamber back \u200cto\u200d regular order.<\/p>\n<p>The House managed to pass\u2064 just one \u2062of \u200bthe 12 bills, funding military construction, before adjourning for\u2063 its six-week recess, while \u200bother bills \u200ceither\u2064 failed to make it \u2063to the floor for \u2064a vote, such as the agriculture\u200c bill,\u2064 or are still \u200cbeing finalized in committee.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the Senate Appropriations\u200b Committee,\u2064 which under new leadership \u200dhas also committed to a bottoms-up appropriations process, has approved all 12 bills, but lawmakers have not\u2063 yet advanced the legislation\u200c to \u2064the floor for a vote.<\/p>\n<h3>House and Senate on collision course \u200bover spending levels<\/h3>\n<p>As the\u200d House \u2063and Senate work to advance their separate versions of the 12 appropriations\u2063 bill,\u2062 the two chambers are at odds over what \u200dtop-line numbers to set spending at.<\/p>\n<p>The Senate advanced caps matching those laid out in \u2064the debt\u200c limit agreement negotiated between McCarthy and President Joe\u200d Biden. However, conservatives, angry that the deal did not cut spending further, have strong-armed the speaker into lower top lines that Democrats refuse \u2062to pass.<\/p>\n<p>Both sides \u2062are digging \u200btheir heels in as the Sept. 30 deadline nears,\u200d raising the prospect \u200cof a government shutdown.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThe only way to avoid \u200da shutdown is through bipartisanship,\u200c so I have urged House Republican \u200dleadership to follow the Senate\u2019s lead \u2063and pass bipartisan appropriations bills,\u201d\u200c Senate Majority \u200cLeader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) wrote in a &#8220;Dear Colleague&#8221; letter on Friday.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has\u200c also\u200b urged his GOP \u2062colleagues in the\u200b House to adhere to the\u200b debt ceiling\u2063 agreement.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThe \u200bspeaker and the president reached \u2062an agreement, which I \u2063supported, in connection with raising the debt \u200cceiling, to set the spending levels\u2062 for next\u200c year,\u201d McConnell told reporters\u200d in\u200c Kentucky. \u201cThe House then turned around and passed spending levels that were below that level. \u2026 That\u2019s not going to be replicated in the Senate.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>House Republicans lay out other demands \u200din spending fight<\/p>\n<p>Even as\u200d House\u200b Republicans\u200c push for lower spending levels, some hard-line conservatives are \u200dgoing so far as to threaten withholding their support if additional demands\u2064 aren\u2019t met.<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene\u200b (R-GA) drew\u2064 her own red line during \u200ca <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lawmakers-return-to-capitol-hill-with-ticking-clock-and-hefty-to-do-list\/\" title=\"Lawmakers rush back to Capitol Hill with limited time and extensive agenda.\">constituent town hall meeting<\/a>\u2064 on Thursday,\u2062 telling voters she\u2062 would not vote to\u200d fund \u200bthe \u2064government unless the following demands were met: an impeachment \u200dinquiry into Biden, the defunding of\u2064 the federal government\u2019s \u201cweaponization\u201d \u200dagainst \u2063conservatives, the elimination\u2064 of all COVID-19 vaccine\u200c mandates, and the end of military funding to Ukraine.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cI&#8217;m not going to continue to fund the\u2063 Biden \u2063regime&#8217;s weaponized government,\u201d Greene said. \u201cI will be happy to\u200c work with all of my colleagues. I will work with the\u200d speaker of the House. I will work \u2062with everyone. But I will not \u2062fund those \u2062things, and I thought it was most \u2062important for me to \u200ctell you all first \u200cbecause I\u2062 work for you.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>If Congress \u200bcan\u2019t pass all 12 of its bills before the end \u2064of the month, lawmakers will \u2063typically agree to a continuing resolution that allows the government to\u2064 operate at the same spending levels until \u2063a new agreement is made. However, some hard-line \u200bconservatives are already ruling that process out, noting they aren\u2019t afraid of\u2064 enforcing a\u200c government shutdown to get the budget\u200d passed.<\/p>\n<p>House Republicans in the \u200dFreedom Caucus similarly \u200claid out their list of\u2063 demands last month, outlining three conditions that must be met in order \u200bfor their support on a\u2063 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/house-passes-stop-gap-bill-funding-government-through-february\/\" title=\"House Passes Stop-Gap Bill Funding Government Through February\">short-term continuing resolution<\/a>,\u200c including a vote on the border\u200c security bill that passed the House earlier this year and\u200c a commitment \u2064to \u201caddress the unprecedented \u200cweaponization of the Justice Department and \u200dFBI.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Caucus\u2064 members also say \u2063they would \u200boppose any continuing resolution that does not \u201cend the Left\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/house-republican-eyes-appropriations-process-to-defund-trump-prosecutions\/\" title=\"House Republican seeks to defund Trump prosecutions through appropriations process.\">cancerous woke policies<\/a> in the Pentagon.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Other priorities<\/h3>\n<p>Meanwhile, Schumer\u2063 laid out a number of other \u200dpriorities the Senate will focus on throughout September, including legislation on \u200dartificial intelligence and rail safety, the \u2063Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization,\u2062 and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/internal-defections-over-democrats-plan-to-lower-drug-prices-puts-long-sought-goal-in-major-peril\/\" title=\"Internal Defections Over Democrats\u2019 Plan To Lower Drug Prices Puts Long-Sought Goal In Major Peril\">drug pricing reforms<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Schumer also vowed to continue providing support\u2062 and military aid to Ukraine, which could put \u200dthe upper \u2064chamber in a\u2064 standoff with a group of House Republicans who want to revoke\u2062 funding altogether.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cFinding \u2064compromise is never easy, but our efforts \u2062to do\u200c precisely that \u200chave led to significant accomplishments\u200b under this majority,\u201d Schumer \u2062wrote on Friday. \u201cI thank all of you for your diligent work so far on such a wide \u200crange of issues and for taking our message\u2064 of\u2062 lowering costs and economic prosperity for the \u200dmiddle class to the American people.\u200c We must keep\u200b working in good faith to achieve \u2064even more.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/congress-lawmakers-return-recess-budget\">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE\u200c WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As lawmakers end their August recess, Congress must tackle a long list of legislation before month-end. However, finding a way forward is no simple task. The Senate reconvenes on Tuesday, a week ahead of the House&#8217;s return.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2021901,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2021900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2021900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2021900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2021900\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2021901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2021900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2021900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2021900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}