This week: Democratic budget resolution on ice

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) is delaying release of his fiscal 2012 budget resolution until he sees what the bipartisan talks overseen by Vice President Biden yield.

Senate Democrats claim they are close to agreement on a spending plan that would reduce borrowing by more than $4 trillion over the next decade, with about half the savings coming from higher taxes. But Conrad told The Hill such a Democratic budget would at this time do little to advance bipartisan talks led by Biden, and could harm them by forcing partisan votes.

The Gang of Six ran into trouble last week as Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) took a "sabbatical" from the group, leaving Biden's group as the remaining option to broker a bipartisan debt-limit deal.

Biden has said he is only looking for a “down payment” on deficit reduction in order to get all sides to raise the nation’s debt ceiling by Aug. 2. The group has reportedly already agreed to about $200 billion in cuts.

Lawmakers in both parties are demanding spending cuts in exchange for agreeing to raise the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling. The Biden negotiations could last weeks or months, leading up to the Aug. 2 deadline to avoid a first-ever U.S. default.

Budget issues are all the rage, with the Peterson Foundation gathering major voices for a fiscal summit on Wednesday.

Participants include keynote speaker former President Clinton; and lawmakers working on fiscal issues, including Sens. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), Conrad, Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.). House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) will attend, along with National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) and Alan Simpson, co-chairman of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.

On Monday, White House budget director Jacob Lew kicks off the week with a speech to the Economic Club of D.C., and House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) heads to the Bipartisan Policy Center to discuss the nation's budgetary challenges.

On Capitol Hill, the full House Appropriations Committee marks up the Homeland Security bill and Military Construction, VA bill.

Also on Monday, the House Judiciary Committee explores taxes on goods purchased over the Internet.

Tuesday on Capitol Hill gets started with several markups, including the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture marking up its fiscal 2012 measure.

House Financial Services is another panel to watch closely, with the expectation that lawmakers will move forward on legislation that would delay new rules on financial derivatives until the end of 2012.

The panel's Subcommittee on International Monetary Policy and Trade will hold a hearing on Tuesday afternoon to review legislation reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank, as the charter is set to expire on Sept. 30.

Also on Tuesday, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee takes up rising gas prices at a hearing in the morning.

In the afternoon, Elizabeth Warren, the temporary head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, will testify on the newly formed agency.

In other news, the Census Bureau releases new home sales data.

Wednesday leads off with the House Ways and Means Committee exploring poor enforcement on refundable tax credits.

The House Financial Services Committee is holding a hearing on ways to overhaul Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The panel will discuss a second round of bills designed to remake the troubled mortgage giants, as part of a broader push to move government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) out of the housing business.

GOP members of the House Financial Services Committee unveiled a package of seven bills Friday. Taken together, the legislation would set new limits on what the GSEs can do. It also would set boundaries on how the federal government can address the nation's housing needs.

Meanwhile, the Senate Finance Committee will look at identify theft and tax fraud and, later in the day, discuss the pending free trade agreement with Panama.

The Senate Banking and House Agriculture panels each hold hearings on derivatives.

The House Oversight panel will hold a hearing on IRS E-file and identity theft, and another hearing in the afternoon on whether Federal Reserve policies drive up gas prices.

The Commerce Department will release data on durable orders, a leading indicator of manufacturing activity while the Federal Housing Finance Agency drops data on home prices.

On Thursday, Commerce puts out its second estimate of first-quarter gross domestic product and the Labor Department releases its weekly figures on initial unemployment claims.

On Capitol Hill, the House Financial Services panel will hold a hearing on oversight of the FDIC.

The Senate Banking Committee holds a hearing on housing finance.

And the Senate Finance panel discusses the trade agreement with Korea, with testimony from Ambassador Demetrios Marantis, deputy U.S. trade representative.