The September legislative agenda is packed, but the timeline is unforgiving. The House returns next week only to leave Washington again the week after, while the Senate is not slated to return until Sept. 14. This leaves the GOP roughly three weeks to clear major priorities before departing for another monthlong recess in October ahead of the midterm election crunch.
Averting a Government Shutdown
At the top of the House’s list is passing a short-term stopgap spending measure to keep the government funded past the Sept. 30 fiscal deadline. The House passed a continuing resolution last month that would fund the government at existing levels through Dec. 4. The Senate easily passed its own version in early August by a 90-6 margin, funding the government through Dec. 11 and sending it back to the lower chamber.
Despite the overwhelming margin of passage in the upper chamber, hurdles remain. The Senate version includes a provision to temporarily halt a rule from the White House budget office that would give political appointees in the executive branch more authority over dispersing federal grants. Some House Republicans may oppose this inclusion. “We’ll have to see how that plays in the House,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) said. “Again, the House has passed one completely clean through Dec. 4.”
However, Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.) expressed optimism about avoiding a government shutdown, noting the bills are not so far apart that they cannot reach an agreement. “I’m very confident about the continuing resolution because the Senate has passed one. So while they’re not the same, the fact that they have interest in doing it, and we have interest in doing it, makes me optimistic we’ll get something over the finish line,” Fine said.
The Battle Over Budget Reconciliation
While a government shutdown appears avoidable, a third budget reconciliation package poses a much larger headache for the GOP. President Trump has clamored for the package, and the House passed a budget blueprint last month outlining $73 billion in defense and intelligence funding, $12 billion for agriculture aid, and $10 billion for a fund aimed at incentivizing states to adopt Trump-backed voting restrictions.
The Senate, however, did not take up the budget resolution before leaving for recess. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), Trump, and conservatives struck a deal to postpone action. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), the Senate Budget Committee’s chair, noted that some colleagues wanted more than $73 billion in defense funding. Fiscal hawks in the Senate also demanded offsets in any reconciliation package, which the House-passed version lacks.
“There’s certainly concern in terms of the need for our military. When the finest among us are in harm’s way, is it really enough?” Johnson said. “The conclusion of the conference and then we had the discussion with the president, he agrees … just work diligently through August and September to do an actually better budget reconciliation bill.”
Conservatives are eyeing the reconciliation bill as a vehicle to advance the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act, a long-standing priority that would require proof of citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections and presenting photo identification when casting a ballot. Fine emphasized the importance of this, stating, “I do wish we had offsets. However, if we have to pass it without offsets in order to get the SAVE America Act passed, that’s something I would support because the country will collapse because we no longer have faith in our elections before it will collapse under our debt.”
Stalled Defense Bill and Other Priorities
Beyond funding and reconciliation, the September legislative agenda includes the annual defense policy bill, the farm bill, and a measure to reauthorize the nation’s foreign spy powers. The $1.15 trillion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) stalled last month when Senate Democrats defeated a motion to proceed. Democrats cited the resumption of military conflict with Iran and Trump’s failure to ask Congress to authorize the war as their primary reason for opposition.
The Senate did manage to pass a bill expanding sanctions targeting Russia, which the House is expected to take up. Conversely, the upper chamber reached a deal to postpone action on a college sports bill pushed by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) after failing to agree on procedural votes.
Opinions among Republicans on the overall productivity of the month remain divided. Rep. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.) struck an optimistic tone, stating, “There is a lot of important work that needs to get done, and funding the government responsibly will be a major priority when we return to Washington. We have a full agenda ahead, and I’m confident we can make it a productive month.”
Others, like Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), are far less hopeful. “I’m not sure much gets done in September in Congress. The Senate left town before passing the reconciliation bill. That was the big thing that needed to be done, make sure that we replenish our munitions, and they abandoned town. I just don’t think much gets done before the election,” Harris said.
What Happens Next
The next three weeks will test Republican unity in both chambers. While the continuing resolution is likely to pass with bipartisan support to avert a government shutdown, the budget reconciliation package faces a much steeper climb. The Senate’s demand for offsets directly conflicts with the House’s willingness to pass the SAVE America Act without them. If fiscal hawks refuse to budge, the voting restrictions and the $73 billion in defense funding may be delayed until after the November midterms.
Watch for House and Senate leadership to spend the first week of September negotiating the continuing resolution differences. Following that, expect a frantic push to finalize a budget reconciliation framework before the October recess. If a deal cannot be reached on the reconciliation package, the GOP will face the midterm elections having failed to deliver on two of Trump’s biggest domestic priorities: defense replenishment and stringent new voting laws.
— Omar Hassan, politics desk, AXO News