Congress reconvenes for the second leg of its lame-duck session on Monday with a long to-do list. As with any to-do list come dates by which the chores need to be completed.
Most of these legislative chores have a short fuse before they become explosive to most Americans. These ticking time bombs could turn our upcoming Christmas holidays into a financial bust or boom.A Bose-wave quality sound system will be heard echoing a constant ticking sound through the halls of Congress this upcoming month.
When the House reconvenes Monday, it will have on its doorstep a bill that extends for 30 days the cuts in doctors' reimbursements. This bill postpones the scheduled cut to doctors and hospitals that see Medicare patients. The cut to their reimbursement pay from the government is 23 percent. The House is also scheduled to consider a 90-day extension of federal unemployment benefits. This bill failed to reach the two-third votes needed to pass it before members adjourned for their Thanksgiving break.
When the Senate returns on Monday, it will conduct a procedural vote on the FDA/food moderization bill.
If the Senate reaches the needed 60 votes, then four amendments will be in order. They are as follows:
- A Coburn (R-Okla.) amendment to put the entire Senate under a two-year ban from offering earmarks.
- A Coburn (R-Okla.) substitute amendment to the bill.
- A Johanns (R-Neb.) amendment to repeal the health care bill provision requiring businesses to issue 1099 tax forms for all businesses that spend more than $600 for goods and services in a tax year.
- A Baucus (D-Mont.) amendment which is the Democratic alternative to the GOP 1099 repeal amendment.
All of these amendments are required to receive a supermajority vote of 67 senators in order for them to be included in the FDA bill.
While the two chambers will be conducting this scheduled business, behind the scenes the 60 Minutes ticking sound continues to echo in the halls of Congress. Leaders will be meeting to solve the other items set to expire during our Christmas holidays.
The meeting at the White House with the president and the leaders of Congress is set for Tuesday and hopes to solve one of the loudest ticking time bombs of all. This has been dubbed the Bush tax cuts, which include 69 or so deductions that have been enjoyed by most Americans for up to 10 years. These tax deductions expire Dec. 31.
Also to be discussed in this White House meeting will be the expiration of our entire federal government. Since this Congress made history by failing to pass a single one of the spending bills to fund allour government agencies, it will need to resolve this soon. Our government runs out of funding Friday, Dec. 3. These leaders are also expected to discuss the tax extenders which expired last December. Many small businesses have been eagerly awaiting the extension of these deductions for over a year.
Back at the Capitol, you can also expect to see both chambers conduct message votes. This exercise will include Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid asking their chambers to conduct votes on political items that are designed to energize their Democratic political base. The subjects are expected to include the DREAM act and repealing the Department of Defense policy called dont ask, dont tell.
Finally, the Senate will need to slug through the Department of Defense authorization bill. This bill authorizes the thousands of policies and programs that go into the daily workings of our Department of Defense. This Congress made history again by failing to pass this bill during its regular session.
Expect Speaker Pelosi and Leader Reid to add other legislative goodies to this long to-do list before the ticking sound is silenced by the sine die adjournment of this historic 111th Congress.
Stay tuned to see how this Congress wraps up these volatile legislative items and see if We the People will indeed have a financial bust or boom during our upcoming Christmas holidays.
Elizabeth B. Letchworth is a retired, elected United States Senate secretary for the majority and minority. Currently she is a senior legislative adviser for Covington & Burling, LLC and is the founder of GradeGov.com.
