Congress returns September 2 from a five-week recess in hopes of tackling some major issues. Among the items leadership offices in the House and Senate are seeking to complete before the end of the session are these:

• Appropriations Bills – all 13 appropriations bill await final approval by Congress. Each week in September is likely to see significant action on appropriations measures as Congress drives to complete as many as possible by the beginning of fiscal 2004 on October 1.
• Medicare Prescription Drugs – staff-level meetings have been going on through most of the recess. Significant issues remain unresolved and there are some who believe the situation has been exacerbated by some of the feedback Members of Congress have gotten from senior citizens over the recess. According to newspaper accounts, many seniors are telling Members the benefits in the House and Senate bills are inadequate. There will be a very strong drive by leadership and the White House to get this bill done before Congress goes home for the year. Success in drafting a compromise version could well drag the session on until close to Thanksgiving.
• Welfare Reform – prospects for extending and revising the TANF program this year have not improved in the last five weeks. Especially troubling have been new deficit projections from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) which make it clear problems with the program will be difficult to solve with additional funding.
• Energy Bill – The Senate punted the comprehensive energy bill to conference on July 31 by passing the same bill it passed last year – effectively giving up for the time being on putting together a new version until the conference with the House. The situation was bad enough when Congress left, but the blackout in Northeastern and Midwestern states in August may well have sunk the chances for an energy bill this year. Senators from the affected states will want to take a fresh look at using the bill as a way to ensure reliability in the performance of power grids. Some of them may seek to break-off legislation on that topic as a separate “emergency” measure. If they do, leadership – anxious to get the comprehensive bill done – will likely resist. Further complicating matters was one of the Administration’s responses to the blackout – rolling back New Source Review regulations affecting power plants. This controversial regulatory action, taken within days of the blackout, will ensure additional heated debate on this topic.

While there is likely to be considerable talk about other topics – reauthorization of TEA-21 among those – leadership offices appear not to be focusing on adding to the already difficult agenda they have laid out.

We expect a leadership pow-wow shortly after Congress returns to settle on plans for the remainder of the session. Before recess, there was talk of a long session and the insertion of a previously unplanned recess over the Yom Kippur/Columbus Day period. If leadership decides to try to tackle the issues outlined above, we may well see an announcement of that recess. If they decide success on these matters is not possible, we may see a session which adjourns before mid-October.

As always stay tuned and we will keep you informed of developments.