The Week Ahead: House pops back in

The House returns — temporarily — from its six-week recess to vote on an emergency spending package for the states that the Senate passed last week.

Two big Senate races will have their candidates decided Tuesday, when Colorado and Connecticut voters head to the polls.

{mosads}And the first family heads to Florida’s Gulf Coast on Saturday, the 14th, to spend the weekend.

Monday, Aug. 9

— President Obama will welcome the Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints to the White House in the morning. The team will hold a Let’s Move! football clinic with D.C.-area children before meeting with the president.

— In the afternoon, Obama heads to Texas, where he will deliver remarks at the University of Texas at Austin, address a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in Austin, and then head to Dallas for a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee fundraiser.

— To coincide with what the Obama administration is calling “National Health Center Week,” the Center for American Progress holds a discussion on health centers as the “economic engines” of their communities. It runs from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., 1333 H St. NW, 10th floor.

Tuesday, Aug. 10

— The House votes on the $26 billion state aid package containing Medicaid and education funding.

— Voters head to the polls in Connecticut, Colorado, Minnesota and Georgia. The big races to watch are the two Senate matches.

— In Colorado, appointed Sen. Michael Bennet (D) is in a tough primary with former state House Speaker Andrew Romanoff. This contest also pits president against president — Obama endorsed Bennet, while former President Clinton endorsed Romanoff. On the GOP side, former Lt. Gov. Jane Norton and former Weld County district attorney Ken Buck have been battling it out. Norton is considered the establishment’s favorite; Buck is a darling of the Tea Party. Buck has held a slight lead in the polls.

— In Connecticut, former WWE CEO Linda McMahon seemed to have a clear sailing to the nomination, until former Rep. Rob Simmons got back into the GOP primary. Simmons put his bid on hold after the state party convention endorsed McMahon in May, but his name remained on the ballot and last month he resumed his campaign. It may be too late, though; McMahon has a double-digit lead in the polls. On the Democratic side, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal seems to have survived his Vietnam-era military service controversy and is seen as the likely nominee.

— The Georgia governor’s race went to a runoff, so former Rep. Nathan Deal (R-Ga.) will learn his fate Tuesday. In the final days of the campaign, he had former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee campaign for him. But Karen Handel, who took first place in the primary but didn’t win enough votes to avoid the runoff, was scheduled to have Sarah Palin campaign with her Monday.

— In other campaign news, former President Clinton will be in Scranton to campaign for Senate candidate Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.).

Wednesday, Aug. 11

— Kenneth Pollack, director of the Brookings Institution’s Saban Center for Middle East Policy, holds a live Web chat on the situation in Iraq, where the U.S. combat mission officially ends this month. The event takes place from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Questions may be submitted in advance to ScoutingReport@brookings.edu.