Back from a ten day break centered on July Fourth, Congress now has four weeks of work before leaving Washington, D.C. for the normal August break until after Labor Day, as lawmakers seem certain to highlight some of their major political differences in the days ahead.
For example, the House this week will vote on a GOP plan to repeal the Obama health law; while that will be approved, it is going nowhere in the Senate.
As for Democrats in the Senate, they will bring up their own small business jobs plan this week - it features an expanded tax credit for businesses that hire new workers and full bonus depreciation for small companies.
If Democrats want to open the floor to amendments, then we could have an interesting debate in the Senate; but if they just want to force a final vote on the bill as it is currently written, then expect Republicans to block the plan with a filibuster.
In other words, the forecast is for a lot of partisan finger pointing in the days ahead.
While there are four work weeks until the August break, don't think that means that lawmakers will be legislating Monday-Friday of each week.
The House has four day work weeks scheduled each of those weeks - which translates to 16 days of legislative business.
While the Senate is in session on Monday, no votes are scheduled until Tuesday afternoon this week - and with most Senators not around on Fridays in an election year, the Senate may not be in session much more than 16 days either.
One bill that I have been tracking in recent months is legislation on reform at the U.S. Postal Service - House Republicans assured me that the measure will be brought up for a vote in July on the House floor, but it isn't on the schedule this week.
That leaves three work weeks to go before the August Break - if you can really call it a "week."
