Senate's top priority: a spending bill to keep the government running

WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will gavel in the Senate Tuesdayas it reconvenes after the August recess with its top goal in mind: Passing a temporary spending bill to keep the federal government open.

Funding for government operations runs out at the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, giving Congress just a few weeks to hammer out a deal on short-term continuation of government funding in the Senate and the House, which returns to work in a week.

“Everything after Labor Day is about reelection, and anything that Congress is working on is in an attempt to increase the votes for their side,” said Mark Harkins, a senior fellow at the Government Affairs Institute at Georgetown University in Washington.

“Most of what you're going to see is rhetorical. There's almost nothing other than trying to keep the government open that's going to be done that's substantive,” Harkins, a former House aide, told Newsday.

Schumer, a Democrat and New York's senior senator, said in a statement to Newsday, “In addition to continuing to educate people on how the Inflation Reduction Act, along with the executive action on student loan relief will reduce their costs, the Senate will continue its priority to restore our courts with exceptional legal talent, experience and diversity."

Legislative work in the Senate will continue, with votes on reauthorizing Federal Drug Administration fees, a $35 cap on insulin shots and confirming judicial nominees, according to Schumer’s office.

In the House, the Jan. 6 Committee will hold two public hearings on its investigation into former President Donald Trump and the attack on the U.S. Capitol that disrupted Electoral College certification, according to Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), a committee member.

But over the next few weeks, legislators will focus on reaching an agreement on a short-term spending bill, called a continuing resolution, or CR.

In the Senate, Republicans can filibuster any spending measure, so Schumer must cut a deal with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

The Big Four — Schumer, McConnell, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) — likely will negotiate the terms of the continuing resolution, experts said.

Republicans are expected to push the end of the continuing resolution funding into next year to give them greater control over the final spending measure for the new fiscal year if they win a majority in the House or the Senate or both.

Congress often relies on short-term funding measures to keep the government running at the end of the fiscal year, instead of passing the formally negotiated 12 spending bills by appropriations committees in the House and Senate.

Since 1977, the first year the fiscal year began on Oct. 1, Congress has enacted a continuing resolution to fund the government in all but three of those fiscal years, according to a 2019 Congressional Research report.

And Congress has passed continuing resolutions for the past three fiscal years.

The House will meet for only 11 days in September, with a provisional three days in October, according to its calendar. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) will announce the legislative agenda next week.

The Senate will be in session for all of September, except for the Jewish holidays, and the first two weeks of October, for a total of 27 days.

Schumer will take advantage of the next few weeks to continue holding votes to confirm Biden’s nominees for federal district and circuit courts.

 So far, the Senate has  completed 78 judicial confirmations -- including one Supreme Court justice and 18 circuit court positions. That is  the fastest pace at this point in a presidency since that of Dwight Eisenhower, according to the Pew Research Center. 

 Waiting for a floor vote are 22 nominees for circuit and district court seats whose appointments the Senate Judiciary Committee have approved after public hearings, according to the American Consitution Society, a liberal advocacy group. 

Another five judicial nominees are waiting for a committee vote, and 25 other court appointees are waiting for committee hearings.

Schumer has announced he will hold a procedural vote later Tuesday on a circuit court nominee, John Z. Lee, for the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.

He also plans to put Republicans on the spot by holding a stand-alone vote on capping the cost of insulin, a treatment for diabetes, at $35 a month for all Americans with private health insurance. The House passed a version of the bill in March.

 In the process of passing the Inflation Reduction Act, Republicans allowed the $35 insulin cap for Medicare patients but blocked it for those with private insurance.

 "This is too important an issue to not try again. Many Senate Republicans went home for the recess and got an earful from their constituents on this issue, specifically," Schumer said. "We’re going to see if that changed their minds."