Congress Faces a Lengthy “To Do” List and a Looming Calendar

With fewer than 25 legislative days on the calendar between now and the August recess, Congress and the Trump Administration face a lengthy to do list, including a desire for advancing three big measures: healthcare, tax reform, and infrastructure.

On major legislative measures, people often make the case that nothing is going to happen until the moment just before something actually does. So while widescale movement on some combination of healthcare, tax reform, and infrastructure legislation remains elusive, Congressional Republicans and the Trump Administration face significant pressure to get a win on at least one of them.

While significant uncertainty remains about the fate of the big three packages, three other issues, the debt limit, appropriations, and the National Defense Authorization Act, must be addressed this year. Any one of these measures could be combined with some other package, and there is increasing talk that the debt limit and appropriations could be combined in an omnibus deal for fiscal year 2018.

Finally, there is a category of expiring provisions Congress will need to address before the end of the year. And all of those provisions will require 60 votes in the Senate, which means that Senate Republicans will require support from their Democratic colleagues. Furthermore, all of those items will take time and capital away from efforts on healthcare, tax reform, and infrastructure.

Altogether, it’s starting to look like we’ll have a mad rush to finish must-pass and other high priority items at the end of the year. Until then, we’ll be running the marathon. For a deeper dive into the issues, click here, and along the way, please let us know if there is something we can do to help you achieve more of your policy goals in Washington.