The House is now in recess and returns at the end of August. The Senate has two weeks of work left before adjourning until September 14. In that time, the Senate will be focused on sanctions on Russia and Iran, a stopgap funding bill, and the budget resolution required for reconciliation 3.0.

Budgets and Reconciliation

Before leaving town, the House passed both a continuing resolution and the budget resolution needed for a third reconciliation package. That blueprint, H Con Res 113, would let Republicans write a filibuster-proof bill of up to $95 billion, mostly for the Iran war but also for farm aid and grants to states enforcing voter ID requirements. The Senate now has to take it up, and Majority Leader Thune is not there yet. "You got to get to 50 [votes], and I can't count 50 right now on a budget resolution," he said last week. "The priority is funding the government." The election security piece is the biggest sticking point, and floor time is even shorter than anticipated, with two days set aside for services for the late Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC).

On the funding front, Thune and Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-ME) are working with Democrats on a stopgap that can draw bipartisan support. Most House Democrats opposed their chamber's version because it dropped a provision of current law barring the administration from transferring funds to the Border Patrol.

Iran Sanctions and War Powers

The Senate is expected to vote this week on a bipartisan Russia-Iran sanctions package that would penalize Russian individuals and enterprises along with foreign firms doing business with them, and impose tariffs of up to 100 percent on products from countries that are major purchasers of Russian oil and gas or that help Moscow evade sanctions.

Another Iran war powers resolution may follow. The chamber fell a couple of votes short last week of discharging S J Res 180 from the Foreign Relations Committee, the twelfth Iran war powers vote this year.

There are no committee meetings of interest this week.