This week: Harvey aid at top of long to-do list as Congress returns

Lawmakers returning to Washington on Tuesday after the monthlong August recess face a long to-do list and just 12 scheduled legislative days this month to finish it all.

Federal assistance for victims of Hurricane Harvey is high on the list, with an expected House vote Wednesday on approving a downpayment so the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has enough money to last through September.

Congress already has to pass a government-wide spending bill by the end of the month to avoid a shutdown on Oct. 1. Additional Harvey aid is likely to be included in that package, along with an extension of the debt limit, which is also slated to expire by the end of the month.

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The Trump administration is seeking an initial $7.85 billion in emergency funding from Congress. That includes $7.4 billion for FEMA’s disaster relief fund and $450 million for the Small Business Administration’s disaster loan program to help small businesses and homeowners.

Separately, the Trump administration is asking Congress to authorize letting FEMA to use funds at an “accelerated rate” to make up to $6.7 billion available during the duration of the short-term spending bill Congress is expected to approve later this month.

“This request is a down-payment on the president’s commitment to help affected states recover from the storm, and future requests will address longer-term building needs,” Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney wrote in a letter to congressional leaders.

The National Flood Insurance Program is also slated to expire at the end of the month, which could be another addition to the spending bill or dealt with separately. Devastation from historic flooding in the Gulf region is likely to hasten lawmakers’ push to renew the program.

As recently as two weeks ago, Congress appeared to be heading for a showdown with President Trump over providing money for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, a top priority from his 2016 campaign. But the bipartisan urgency to help Harvey victims appears to have led the Trump administration to become willing to hold off on a fight over the wall.

It’s the second time this year that Trump has apparently backed down from his demands for wall money. Congress previously declined to include wall funding in a government spending package this spring in the face of a Democratic filibuster and even opposition from some Republicans.

Lawmakers are expected to pass a short-term spending bill this month that would last into December. That could result in a holiday-season fight over the wall if Trump wants to push for the funds for a third time this year.

House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), a Trump ally, warned that a Harvey relief package should be dealt with separately from the debt limit.

Many lawmakers from the afflicted Texas and Louisiana regions had previously voted against aid for Hurricane Sandy victims in 2013, citing unrelated spending attached to the measure. Multiple fact checks in recent days have shown that the spending cited by these conservatives was not “pork” as described.

The emergency funds for Harvey victims are not expected to be offset, either. Conservatives have maintained that it’s more important that the aid package simply not include any extraneous, unrelated provisions.

House to vote on eight-bill fiscal package

Despite the plan to approve a short-term measure at the end of the month to keep the government open, the House is slated to vote this week on an eight-bill package for fiscal 2018.

The House passed a national security-themed spending package with the other four annual appropriations bills in July before leaving for recess that included $1.6 billion for Trump’s wall.

The Senate is not expected to be able to complete those bills in time, but House GOP leaders still want to move all 12 measures before the end of the fiscal year.

More than 900 amendments have been filed to the spending package, which include proposals to prevent displays of Confederate symbols on federal property, ensure federal funds can’t be spent at Trump businesses, defund controversial White House aide Stephen Miller’s salary, and withhold federal grants until the Justice Department puts neo-Nazi groups participating in the white supremacist march in Charlottesville, Va., on the terror watch list.

The House Rules Committee will meet to decide which amendments can get floor votes, and will likely avoid green-lighting particularly controversial ones from Democrats like eliminating Miller’s salary.

Decision day on DACA

President Trump is expected to make an announcement on Tuesday on whether he will allow the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to continue.

Since the program’s inception in 2012, nearly 800,000 immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as minors have been granted work permits and shielded from deportation.

Trump has pledged to crack down on illegal immigration and originally said on the 2016 campaign trail that he would eliminate DACA. But since then, he has expressed sympathy for the program’s recipients.

“We love the Dreamers. We love everybody,” Trump said Friday. “We think the Dreamers are terrific.”

Trump’s hand is being forced on DACA because of a threat from several conservative state attorneys general to challenge the program in court if he doesn’t make his plans clear by Tuesday.

Some Republicans are pushing for Congress to take legislative action to protect the young undocumented immigrants from being deported.

Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.), along with several Democrats, have submitted amendments to the government spending package on the floor this week to keep DACA intact.

Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) plans to file a discharge petition to force a vote on a bill he introduced with Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-Ill.) earlier this year to extend DACA protections for three years.

Coffman acknowledged in an interview with The Hill that he would need to rely on Democrats to succeed with his discharge petition, but it’s unclear whether Democrats would sign Coffman’s discharge petition given that most support a more permanent legislative solution.

Meanwhile, Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) urged Trump not to rescind DACA, saying Friday, “I actually don’t think he should do that and I believe that this is something Congress has to fix.”

Gutiérrez is discussing with other members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus whether they should withhold votes for the spending bill later this month unless they secure protections for DACA recipients.

“Rep. Gutiérrez is talking to CHC Members and other Democrats about not making those votes available to Republicans unless immigrant youth are protected,” said Gutiérrez spokesman Douglas Rivlin.

That would be another major headache for Ryan and his leadership team: they’ve relied on Democratic votes to carry government spending bills in recent years thanks to regular conservative defections.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) urged Ryan in a letter on Friday to meet with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and Democratic leadership to “discuss a comprehensive legislative solution for our country’s DREAMers.”

Nominations, McCain returns

The Senate is expected to spend time this month confirming nominations, starting with a vote on Timothy Kelly to be a U.S. district judge for the District of Columbia on Tuesday evening.

It’s also possible the Senate could take up the annual defense policy bill as soon as this week, if not later this month.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, is expected to return to the Senate after recently completing his first round of chemotherapy for brain cancer.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) tried to move to the defense bill after the healthcare bill went down in flames in July, but was blocked by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).

The House passed its version of the defense authorization in July. Ahead of its passage, Trump announced that he would ban transgender people from serving in the military amid concerns from some House conservatives about the Pentagon paying for gender reassignment surgeries.

Defense Secretary James Mattis announced last week that transgender troops could still keep serving in the military pending the results of a study conducted by experts.

If the defense bill moves to the Senate floor, Democrats and Republicans who support keeping the Obama-era policy could use the opportunity to offer amendments.

Health care hearings

The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions is slated to hold hearings this week about bipartisan proposals to stabilize the ObamaCare health exchanges.

The Senate parliamentarian ruled over the August recess that the reconciliation measure that Republicans were using to circumvent a filibuster for their ObamaCare repeal bill will expire at the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.

That means Republicans’ time to repeal the law will run out by then, unless they want to forgo their plans to use the reconciliation measure for the next fiscal year for tax reform.

After the Senate GOP failed to pass its bill to partially repeal and replace the healthcare law along party lines, Republicans like Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) have suggested it’s time to turn to some kind of bipartisan fix.

State insurance commissioners will appear before the panel on Wednesday, while five Republican and Democratic governors are slated to testify on Thursday.

Among those governors will be Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D), who unveiled a bipartisan plan with Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) to stabilize the insurance markets. Their plan would keep the healthcare law’s individual mandate and commit the administration to funding key cost sharing payments to help low-income consumers buy insurance.

The Trump administration has been making the payments on a month-to-month basis, but insurers have been asking for more certainty for long-term planning.

Alexander has said he hopes his committee can pass a market stabilization plan by the end of September, but by then it may be too late for insurers to make changes to premiums.

Insurers face a Sept. 27 deadline to sign contracts for participating in the ObamaCare exchanges. Open enrollment begins Nov. 1.