As Congress left town last week they left behind a huge stack of unfinished business on issues that had been top priorities for both parties. Despite GOP control of both houses of Congress and the White House there were stalemates on energy, highways, welfare, and prescription drug costs. Serious divisions between the conservative House and the more centrist Senate contributed to the impasses.

Republicans were thwarted on legislation to curb big awards from liability lawsuits and on a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriages. Democrats were thwarted in efforts to raise the minimum wage, overturn new overtime pay rules and allow the importation of cheaper prescription drugs from overseas.

A post election lame-duck session is scheduled to begin on November 16 and will be devoted mainly to the nine spending bills for the new fiscal year that Congress has not yet passed; it has approved only four.

The congressional session did have some achievements, including the approval of bills to cut corporate and middle class taxes and pay billions of dollars for hurricane, drought and flood relief. It also approved a bill making it a separate crime to kill an unborn child and legislation to expand DNA testing in crime cases and to provide new rights for crime victims.

A final compromise on intelligence prompted by the recommendations of the independent commission that investigated the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, would add to the record, although it is not clear whether agreement can be reached before the elections or by the time of the post-election session.

It was a second year in a row that legislation to spur energy production, foundered in the Senate, although some of its provisions, including support for a natural gas pipeline from Alaska were included in other bills. The multibillion dollar highway and transit bill got caught up in disputes between lawmakers and the White House over cost and among states over how the money would be distributed.

Legislation to reauthorize and update the 1996 welfare bill, including new work rules and funding for child care, was sidelined by Senate Republicans after Democrats threatened to add some of their own legislative priorities including a minimum wage increase.

House bills targeted at curbing class action lawsuits and limiting damages from medical malpractice lawsuits died in the Senate, and lengthy negotiations on the creation of a fund to compensate asbestos victims failed to produce an agreement.

The Senate rejected a bill to protect firearms manufacturers and dealers from lawsuits after gun control advocates attached provisions to extend the ban on assault weapons and require background checks at gun shows. A White House proposal to provide new tax breaks for contributions to religious and other charities failed in the Senate, and Democrats lost efforts to extend unemployment benefits. A bipartisan Senate bill to expand the federal hate crimes statute was rejected by House Republicans in a conference committee. Immigration initiatives, including proposals by the President, went nowhere.

Congress failed to agree on a budget for the year, contributing to the delay in passing appropriations bills. Only bills dealing with defense, military construction, homeland security and the District of Columbia have been passed. With the government running out of borrowing authority, Congress will also have to raise the federal debt ceiling, which lawmakers were reluctant to tackle before the elections.

With Congress departing this week, only to return after the election, it's a good time to recap what has been accomplished this year on the hill.

So far, only 4 of 13 appropriations bills have been passed, with Military Construction and Homeland Security joining the DC and Defense bills yesterday. The only remaining measure to be taken up is a revamp of the nation's intelligence services, despite strong differences between the House and Senate versions.

During the past year, a few major pieces of legislation have been adopted. A Medicare prescription drug bill, two different tax cut packages and a disaster relief bill have been the largest efforts to succeed. Many key bills have been delayed or abandoned altogether, including an energy bill, the reauthorization of TEA-21 and the reauthorization of welfare. Efforts to pass all of these measures before the election fell apart due to time considerations and differences between the House and Senate, which have been stark throughout the year.

Both parties will now turn their full focus to the elections, and the expected lame duck session is unlikely to resolve many of the bigger issues that have derailed legislation over the past year.

This week the House passed legislation, (HR 5186), to significantly expand loan forgiveness for math, science and special education teachers by eliminating millions of dollars in excess subsidies to private loan providers.

HR 5186 eliminates a provision in the Higher Education Act (HEA) that, since the 1980s, has allowed some lenders to receive a 9.5% return rate on federal student loans compared to the roughly 3.5% that most students pay. The bill would temporarily eliminate the subsidy – for one year- while lawmakers work on the HEA reauthorization. The Government Accountability Office recently estimated that the loophole resulted in $1 billion in overpayments in fiscal year 2004.

The legislation also helps address critical teacher shortages in math, science and special education by expanding student loan forgiveness. Currently, under the HEA, teachers who commit to high-poverty schools for five years may have up to $5,000 in student loans forgiven, and that number would be more than tripled to $17,500 under the House-passed bill.

On October 1, the Senate approved the "Public Transportation Terrorism Prevention and Response Act of 2004" (S. 2884), which aims to expand and improve anti-terrorism measures for the nation's public transportation systems and intercity bus operators. The measure authorizes nearly $3.4 billion for public transportation security grants, which would be based on risk and vulnerability assessments consistent with the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission.

The bill requires the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to identify and evaluate transportation assets that need to be protected and set risk-based priorities for defending them. TSA also would be required to develop a plan, budget, and funding to implement this effort, as well as assign roles and missions to relevant federal, state, regional, local, and private stakeholders. Funds would go directly to transit providers.

The bill authorizes a total of $3.38 billion over three years: $775 million in fiscal year 2005, $825 million in fiscal 2006, and $880 million in fiscal 2007 for transit systems' capital investments. It also authorizes $400 million in fiscal 2005, $300 million in fiscal 2006, and $200 million in fiscal 2007 for transit system operations, such as security training, drills, canine patrols, and overtime reimbursement.

The bill also requires private intercity and charter bus operators to submit a security plan in order to receive a grant. Eligible activities include terminal, garage, and station reconstruction to improve security; protection of bus drivers; passenger screening; employee training; and surveillance and emergency communications equipment.

A similar bill in the House, H.R. 5082 has passed the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and awaits House action. That bill authorizes $3.5 billion over three years. With Congress preparing to adjourn to campaign for the November elections, it is unlikely that the bill will see final House approval.

Some House lawmakers are asking the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to assert federal jurisdiction over Internet telephony or Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) as it known. This is in light of the evidence that legislation dealing with the industry is unlikely to be enacted. The letter would ensure the VoIP industry growth.

The House letter says the FCC is on "firm ground" to declare VoIP an interstate telecommunications service because the technology allows consumers to make calls anywhere.

The FCC already has determined that calls that travel solely on the Internet should not be regulated.

As the FCC and lawmakers debate how to move forward, some large phone companies have begun to launch their own VoIP signaling a larger shift toward Internet-based calling.

The House leadership is lining up a series of symbolic votes this week to give its members some added cover as they head home for the election. The first such vote will apparently be on a bill to re-establish the draft. The purpose of putting the bill on the floor is to emphatically demonstrate there is no push for a draft. Second on the hit parade appears to be a bill that embodies the final offer the House made in the failed House-Senate Conference to reauthorize the TEA-21 programs. The bill brought to the floor will re-authorize the programs at the funding levels ($284 billion in guaranteed spending and $299 billion in Contract Authority) last proposed by the House. The bill is still being developed as this is written. It apparently will contain a highway funding formula friendly to donor states, thus reflecting the position of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas).

Democrats on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure are expressing their distaste for this effort, which is not being done on a bipartisan basis. However, the bill is likely to receive significant majorities in both the GOP and Democratic caucuses of the House. We do not expect this action to have any impact on the eventual settlement of the issues between the House and Senate on this legislation.

With a target recess date of October 8, Senate Committee chairman James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma) is seeking to “hotline” the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) to the Senate floor. Numerous Senators have placed holds on the bill, registering their dissatisfaction with policies and projects included in the bill that authorizing programs and projects for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Hotlining requires that all the holds to be identified and addressed before WRDA can be considered on the Senate floor. Some holds will be difficult to satisfy because of major policy differences with S. 2773 as approved by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Significant differences include the Corps’ process for evaluating and recommending water resource projects to congress for authorization, the degree of consultation required with other federal agencies, and mitigation requirements for environmental impacts.

Congress attempts to reauthorize WRDA every two years but has not passed a bill since 2000. The House adopted its version of WRDA last year. The Senate Committee approved S. 2773 in late June but did not file a report until August. Attempts to schedule the bill for Senate floor consideration have been hampered by the Senators’ holds. Senator leaders could place a deadline on removing those holds, but WRDA has not gained the priority attention of the leadership.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tennessee) indicated Friday that he wishes to speed up the intelligence overhaul bill. A vote on cloture is expected Tuesday, as amendments continue to be added to the bill. (S 2845) More than 160 amendments have already been filed by October 1.

In the House, the GOP leadership has indicated it doesn't wish to have several amendments gain support, including the Shays-Mahoney amendment, which would mirror the Senate bill. Many think the Rules Committee may prevent amendments from being offered on the floor, or otherwise block attempts to alter the bill itself.

The debate continues to rage in the Senate over whether the new intelligence chief will have full budgetary authority over all the intelligence community agencies, including those within the Pentagon. Currently, over 80% of the budget goes to agencies inside the Pentagon, and any shakeup will likely alter the power of both committees and Defense agencies drastically.