Democrats weigh lame-duck session, make recess plans

Democratic leaders are leaving the rest of Capitol Hill guessing about a possible lame-duck session as they near their scheduled departure date, now only a week away.

Behind closed doors, they’re weighing presidential politics and their willingness to brave a government shutdown over offshore drilling. They also want to respond to the financial meltdown while still sending vulnerable members home to campaign.

{mosads}House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that Congress could debate a Bush administration legislative proposal to address problems on Wall Street even after Congress goes home on Sept. 26. She also said the Oversight and Financial Services committees will hold hearings into October on the financial crisis.

Pelosi dodged a question about whether that meant a lame-duck session is more likely. But House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said that he and Pelosi are trying to avoid a lame-duck with a continuing resolution that would extend through February or March.

At the same time, Hoyer noted that members are expected to return in November for new-member orientation. “Mid-November is an option” for a lame-duck, he said.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) also hasn’t given a definitive answer, but has said he’s considering a lame-duck session after the Nov. 4 election.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has spoken more directly to the topic of a lame duck, but hasn’t given a definitive answer. He has said he’s considering a lame-duck session after the Nov. 4 election.

Democrats are trying to pass a number of bills before Sept. 26, including a continuing resolution to fund the government; how that effort fares will largely determine the Senate’s post-election schedule.

“The target date [for adjournment] is next Friday, that’s the date the Speaker has talked about to me on many different occasions,” Reid said Thursday. “But if there’s work to be done, we’ll have to come back and that’s no problem.”

Reid has also said he plans to keep the chamber in pro-forma mode, as he has done most of the year. Such a tactic — having a senator gavel the Senate into a brief session every few days — prevents Bush from making recess appointments.

Because of the recent financial crises, Reid also said he will be keeping the Senate’s committee structure intact, which would allow the chamber to reconvene and act quickly should the need arise.

{mospagebreak}The schedule also depends on the presidential election. Many observers say if Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is elected, Democratic leaders would have no need to reconvene in the waning days of the Bush administration, when Bush still holds veto power. But if Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is elected, it becomes more possible because Senate Democrats may prefer to deal with a weakened, departing Bush than a fresh, emboldened President McCain.

Perhaps the single most decisive factor is the length of any funding resolution that is passed next week. If the resolution is a short-term stopgap measure, until November or December, then a December lame-duck session becomes unavoidable. But at least one of several ideas being pushed by Democratic leaders in the Senate would be a longer-term measure that would fund the government into next February.

A November or December lame duck could let the steam out of the offshore drilling issue and avoid a government shutdown debate that would be perilous for both parties.

{mosads}Absent a lame duck, Congress and the White House appear to be on a collision course. The current moratorium on drilling must be addressed by a continuing resolution, but Bush has threatened to veto the only drilling plan that’s been passed by the Democratic Congress.

“If the president wishes to kill funding for the government, that’s his decision,” said Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.), assistant to the Speaker. “But we’re going to put together a good CR.”

One key Democrat said Thursday he had “real concern” that the moratorium on drilling could go away entirely at the end of the month. That could even worry some Republicans in coastal districts with tourism economies, because it would allow drilling three miles off the coasts. At that distance, rigs would be easily visible from beaches.

House Democratic leaders met for more than an hour Thursday. During the first part of the meeting, they huddled with former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, who has become their go-to economist, on the troubles in the financial industry. But must of the rest of the meeting was on their end-game strategy.

Pelosi did indicate that she wanted a continuing resolution done before moving on to an economic stimulus package.