Dems seek fall rebound

The August recess has been unkind to the Democratic Party, just as it was last year.

Last summer, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said she did not fear August, indicating a House floor vote on health reform could be postponed until the fall.

{mosads}“I’m not afraid of August — it’s a month,” Pelosi said at the time.

Soon thereafter, voters expressed their frustration with lawmakers on a range of issues, including healthcare, during volatile town-hall meetings. 

Some thought the uproar would doom passage of the health bill, but in a stunning turn of events, Democrats regained political momentum in the fall. The House passed its health overhaul in early November, and despite losing the late Sen. Edward Kennedy’s (D-Mass.) seat, Democrats enacted the historic bill earlier this year.

This August, cable news shows did not focus on town-hall meetings, as they did 12 months earlier, but instead fixed on the ailing economy and an unemployment rate that is now at 9.6 percent.

Not surprisingly, many House and Senate Democrats have seen their poll numbers dip lately. More political analysts are predicting the House will flip to the GOP and the Senate might as well, though that seems less likely. 

The question is: Will Democrats rebound this fall as they did in 2009? Legislatively, the biggest issue left for the 111th Congress to tackle is the expiring Bush tax cuts, an issue that divides Democrats. President Obama has urged Congress to extend the cuts for couples earning $250,000 or less, though some influential Democrats on Capitol Hill are pushing to extend the tax cuts, at least in the short term. 

There is no shortage of other bills that Democrats want to tackle before next year, ranging from a U.S-Russia arms treaty to energy to food safety to the defense authorization. But there is a lack of time to pass all the items of the their wish list, especially with an emboldened GOP prepared to block anything remotely controversial.

Democrats arriving in the capital next week will be thinking about their departing flights back home. With dozens of politically vulnerable members worried about their general-election opponents campaigning unopposed for the duration of this work period, it is unlikely Congress will be here for many days in October, especially with a lame-duck session certain. 

The House is scheduled to leave Oct. 8, but it’s probable the lower chamber will be adjourning earlier than that. And the Senate will not be far behind.