Congress went back in session last week after taking its longest summer recess in more than 50 years. Our lawmakers return to a huge mound of critical, unfinished business.
At the top of the heap are 13 bills that appropriate the money needed to run the government for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1. Only one money bill has been passed and signed into law. Of the rest, the House has passed 10; the Senate, 1.
Congress may get some of the bills passed on time, but political seers say the outlook for most of them is that they will be stuffed into stopgap spending measures until sometime after the November elections. Think lame-duck session.
Congress has been trying to renew the six-year highway and public transportation bill for two years. It's now in its fifth postponement. The fundamental problem is the White House and Congress are about $45 billion apart on the final cost, and the White House keeps threatening to veto anything bigger than what it wants.
Republican leaders in the House appear deadest on not wanting to embarrass the president, but they also don't want to go home and face the voters without a big pile of highway money.
Lobbyist for the trucking industry are sounding warning alarms again over the issue of tolls on existing interstate highways. There has been a months-long effort to include interstate tolling in the highway reauthorization bill. A handful of states are seeking authority to introduce or expand such interstate tolling within their borders, and they've gotten support from a number of members of Congress.
The truckers are asking everyone involved in the ground transportation industry to write, fax, e-mail and call members of Congress to oppose allowing states to impose tolls on existing interstates.
Another hot topic is a proposed repeal of export subsidies ruled illegal by the World Trade Organization. The bill must pass to avoid trade sanctions against the U.S., but the House and Senate versions of the repeal have been turned into very different bills loaded with complicated changes to the corporate tax code.
Also pending because of congressional procrastination is an increase in the national debt limit, now $7.38 trillion. Treasury says it will hit the limit early next month. There is no question that an increase in the debt limit will pass, but Republicans want to do so quietly so as not to draw a bunch of attention to the Bush administration's string of major league deficits.
Finally, there is the extension of three popular tax cuts -- for parents, married couples and low-income workers -- due to expire. There is little doubt these will be extended, but Congress and the White House can't agree for how long.
Most of this stuff should have been completed weeks or months ago, and it certainly won't get done on time. So, what else is new?