CAPITOL HILL – Now that summer recess is over for Congress, lawmakers have a number of pressing legislative items facing them. Both chambers will only be in session for three weeks before taking another break in mid-October. One major item to watch is progress on a budget deal.
As the fiscal year winds down, the clock is ticking on funding the government.
“They either need to figure out a way to hash out another full-year budget or pass a stopgap measure to just kind of punt and give them more time to work out a longer deal,” said Editor and Publisher of Inside Elections Nathan Gonzales. He says a deal won’t likely happen without bringing a few Democratic senators on board, which could be met with opposition.
“Once again, we can expect another fight about government and spending, with the potential of a government shutdown, if people don’t come to an agreement, in enough time,” said Gonzales.
House Republicans also have undertaken several federal investigations, ranging from the Epstein files to holding members of former President Biden’s administration accountable for covering up his health and ability to govern. Gonzales says this could distract lawmakers from top legislative priorities.
A few weeks from now, President Trump’s executive order deploying National Guard troops to D.C. will be up to Congress to resolve. He has 30 days, and then that power goes into Congress’s hands.
“He’s supposed to get congressional approval,” Gonzales explained. “Now, whether he does that or whether he just kind of pushes forward until somebody tells him that he can’t… Maybe President Trump thinks that 30 days is enough to get things cleaned up and start moving to Chicago or Baltimore.”
In recent days the president has also mentioned asking Congress for $2 billion in federal funds to beautify D.C. It’s money that Gonzales says could be difficult to get considering Republicans took out $1 billion of D.C.’s own revenue from the budget they passed earlier.
Looking ahead to midterms, the GOP’s ability to hold on to its razor-thin majority will rest on how voters feel the president is doing.
Gonzales says the administration’s goal will be to “help people get a sense that the country is headed in the right direction. If President Trump has a positive job approval rating, if people believe that the country is headed in the right direction and they feel secure, then Republicans have a chance of holding both the Senate and House.”
But redistricting fights are underway that could affect those midterms. Texas has approved a new map to try to elect more Republicans while California is trying to the same for Democrats. The president continues to press more GOP state legislatures to follow Texas’s lead. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is shoring up support for other blue states to do the same.
