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Lawmakers Return from Recess, Face Daunting Deadlines

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Congress is back in session after a five-week summer recess, but a heavy work load awaits them as legislative deadlines quickly approach.

The immediate focus will be sending $7.9 billion in disaster relief for Hurricane Harvey victims.

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin asked Congress to combine the aid with an increase in the nation's borrowing limit.

"The president and I believe that it should be tied to the Harvey funding," Mnuchin said Sunday. "If Congress appropriates the money, but I don't have the ability to borrow more money and pay for it, we're not going to be able to get that money to the state. So, we need to put politics aside."

Although conservatives are opposed to raising the borrowing limit, the House and Senate are expected to vote quickly on sending the money to help the Houston area. 

Congress also has to find a way to fund the government past Sept. 30, when the current budget year ends, and increase the U.S. debt ceiling by the end of the month.

Additionally, Congress must now come up with legislation to help Dreamers. 

President Donald Trump decided to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which grants work programs to undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children.

Congress has six months to come up with a solution before he completely dismantles it.
 

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