The Senate has returned from its August recess, but the House will not be back in session until next week.

Late last week, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) distributed a letter to his conference indicating that the upper chamber will focus this week on making progress on government funding legislation to avoid a government shutdown before current funding expires on September 30. He urged the House to work to pass bipartisan spending bills, although so far the House legislation has been passed on a partisan basis. 

With less than four weeks until funding is set to run out, both Schumer and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) have publicly supported using a short-term spending measure to keep the government open, which would give negotiators additional time to reach a bipartisan agreement on a larger spending package. The timeline for an extension isn’t yet clear, with some pundits indicating it could be as short as four weeks and others signaling it could run into December. Regardless of the date of a continuing resolution (CR), members of the conservative Freedom Caucus have threatened to vote against any spending bills that do not meet their demands, such as border security funding and restricting abortion rights. Moreover, the Freedom Caucus members stated last month they would oppose a clean CR unless the bill addresses “the unprecedented weaponization of the Justice Department and the FBI.”

Members have also considered including additional aid to Ukraine and funding for disaster relief efforts in Florida, Hawaii, and Vermont, which will further complicate discussions. 

Schumer noted that the Senate will focus on bipartisan efforts to regulate artificial intelligence. Lawmakers must also make progress on the Federal Aviation Administration’s reauthorization legislation and the Farm Bill, which are set to expire on September 30. The bills are unlikely to be enacted by then, requiring an extension of current policies for those programs. 

Administration

President Joe Biden and other key administration staff, including Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, will travel to New Delhi, India, on September 7 to participate in this year’s G-20 Leaders’ Summit. Biden plans to hold separate, bilateral talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi while he is there. 

Senate Side

On Tuesday, the Senate will resume consideration of the nomination of Philip Nathan Jefferson to be vice chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors for a term of four years. Before the August recess, Schumer also filed for cloture on the nominations of Lisa DeNell Cook and Adriana Kugler to join the Fed’s Board of Governors, Gwynne Wilcox to be a member of the National Labor Relations Board, and Anna Gomez to join the Federal Communications Commission.

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