The House met last week for two days while the Senate remained on recess, approving a major water projects bill.
Harry Reid, the majority leader, promises to bring a similar bill to the floor, but there is little time remaining before the recess in which to approve it.
With just a few days remaining before the August recess, lawmakers looking to bolster their campaign bank accounts have ignited a midsummer fund-raising frenzy.
With days remaining before a possible recess, Democrats and Republicans introduced legislation in the House and Senate yesterday to cut off the subsidies on all new loans, proposing to use the money in ways that directly benefit students instead.
Officials are trying to clear space in the parliamentary timetable so that laws can be pushed through in the 28 days remaining before the summer recess to rescue pending trials, including more than three terrorism cases, one of which is due to start in the autumn.
The clock is ticking with ten days remaining before the summer recess.
EZRA KLEIN surveys the legislative scene in America:In the few days remaining before the Senate recesses for the election, the Democrats have decided to pull off a bad policy twofer: They'll fight for one policy that doesn't make sense, and in doing, make success less likely on a policy that does make sense.
Thus, both houses will likely remain in sham recess sessions for a very long time.
Only the president has the clout to engineer a true, less costly solution in the days remaining before Congress's summer recess.
In interviews, Senator Charles E. Grassley, chairman of the Finance Committee, and Representative Bill Thomas, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, said that with only two weeks remaining before the August Congressional recess, they were consumed with other legislative business.
