Congress has a long to-do list (Stalemates pile up )

[papau]

http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20040908/a_congress08.art.htm

Congress has a long to-do list
Stalemates pile up as both parties refuse to relent
By William M. Welch
USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Congress returned this week to a lengthy list of unfinished business and a late election-season opportunity to build on its meager record.

With little to show 20 months after it convened except for a disputed prescription-drug benefit for seniors and rising budget deficits, Congress is facing a poor rating in public opinion polls and a harsh judgment from independent as well as partisan analysts.

“Pretty pathetic,” says congressional scholar Norman Ornstein of the conservative American Enterprise Institute. He calls the 108th Congress “one of the least productive” in history.

Republican congressional leaders say there's still time to get things done, and some things will have to be: Of the 13 annual spending bills required to keep the government operating after Oct. 1, only one — for the military — has been sent to President Bush and signed. Congress will try to pass a homeland-security spending bill next and may lump the rest into a single package that allows lawmakers to avoid tough choices.<snip>

TODO:
•The budget• Taxes. •Energy reform.• Drug imports.•Highway funds.
•Gun control

[papau]

1. Intelligence Retooling on Agenda as Congress Returns

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2932-2004Sep7.html
Intelligence Retooling on Agenda as Congress Returns

By Helen Dewar and Charles Babington
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, September 8, 2004; Page A04

Congress returned yesterday for a frantic preelection push to reorganize intelligence agencies and grapple with a huge stack of unfinished business on issues including taxes and energy -- a task complicated by battles for control of the White House and both houses of Congress.

With only a month remaining before Congress's planned Oct. 8 adjournment, prospects for passage of major legislation appear bleak, with the possible exception of the intelligence reorganization, which many lawmakers are pressing to pass, at least in part, before the Nov. 2 elections.

President Bush is expected to lay out his plans for the intelligence legislation at a meeting today with senior lawmakers.

The first order of business, however, is hurricane relief for Florida, a pivotal state for the presidential race. Both the House and the Senate plan quick approval of a $2 billion aid package, with hints of more to come. The Senate approved the measure yesterday, contingent on the House also acting this week. <snip>