After a seven-week recess, Congress returned to Washington on Tuesday this week for the final legislative session before the November elections. Members of Congress are under pressure as they have only four weeks to hammer out a spending bill to fund the government before the end of the fiscal year on September 30.
On Tuesday, Senate Democrats again blocked a $1.1 billion plan to fight the Zika virus, demanding that Republicans drop an effort to block Planned Parenthood from receiving money to combat Zika. Democrats had enough votes to prevent Congress from moving emergency funds that public health experts say is urgently needed as they prepare for the possibility that Zika will spread to other states. The vote was 52 to 46, and Republicans needed 60 votes to advance the bill. Democrats regard any restriction on Planned Parenthood as setting a dangerous precedent.
Tension is high on Capitol Hill about how long a continuing resolution, a stopgap funding bill that keeps the government open, should last. Democrats and some moderate Republicans want to finish the budget work later this year after the elections. Conservative Republicans wish to pass a six-month continuing resolution that would push the budget fight into 2017 once a new president and Congress is in place.
Because of the Zika/Planned Parenthood standoff, lawmakers say they expect to address the funding issue by the end of September as part of the must-pass, stopgap funding measure. The stopgap funding measure would keep the government funded as it seems more likely that Congress will not pass its annual spending bills by then.
“We are not going to agree to a longer-term continuing resolution, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid told reporters this week. We are not doing anything into next year, Republicans should be aware of that right now.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) would much prefer to avoid even the slightest threat of a government shutdown just weeks before the elections.
The House of Representatives is scheduled to depart on September 30. The Senate will adjourn October 1-3 for Rosh Hashanah, return October 4 to 7 and then recess until after the election.
