Clean air, farm bill top Congress' list

Abstract

Time is running out for the 101st Congress. With all of the House seats and one third of the Senate seats up for grabs in November, Congress isn't scheduled to spend much time in Washington, D.C., between now and Nov. 6. It left town Aug. 3, won't return until after Labor Day, and intends to adjourn for good on Oct. 5. Within that time, Congress has several musts to accomplish. One is reaching a budget agreement with the White House over how to lower the federal deficit so as to avoid across-the-board cuts of between 25 and 40% in all federal programs (C&EN, July 23, page 4). If an agreement is reached—there was no movement before the recess—Congress must enact legislation implementing it, be it through increases in current taxes, imposing new taxes, and/or cutting funding for specific programs. It must also clear the 13 regular appropriation bills, which somewhat surprisingly are right on track ...