Nine tasks Congress can’t avoid

Congress is on track to ignore most major tax and spending decisions until the lame-duck session or beyond but there are some bills that just can’t wait.

For these, Congress will have to take a break from the campaign trail and work together — even if the result is to simply extend the status quo.

The following is a list of must-pass legislation:

1. Student loans

The interest rate on Stafford loans for college students is set to double to 6.8 percent on July 1 unless Congress agrees on a way to extend the current rate. President Obama has put the issue at the top of his campaign agenda and, on Friday, highlighted it at an appearance at a Washington-area high school. Senate Democrats have proposed paying for an extension by ending a loophole that allows wealthy owners of S corporations to reduce their payroll taxes. The Democratic bill uses a controversial accounting move — that the GOP labels double counting — in order to use the revenue to shore up the Medicare trust fund and to pay for the student loan extension. The House in late April passed its extension using cuts to Obama’s health reform law to pay for it.

2. Postal service reform

Three deadlines loom relate to the troubled U.S. Postal Service. On May 15, USPS will move forward with consolidation plans that could shutter local post offices and processing facilities, in the absence of enacted reform legislation that helps it get back on solid financial footing. On Aug. 1, USPS will be required to make a $5.5 billion prefunding payment for retiree health benefits and that is followed by another $5.6 billion prefunding due on Sept. 30. USPS has said the payments cannot be made and Congress must waive the requirements. The Senate in late April passed a postal reform bill sponsored by Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Scott Brown (R-Mass.). The Senate bill would ease the sting of the required prepayment, use a pension fund overpayment to incentivize workers into retirement and give USPS new avenues to raise revenues. The bill differs greatly from a House GOP version authored by Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.). The Issa bill would appoint a board to come up with ways to streamline the Postal Service, expedite the end of Saturday mail and keep the retiree funding requirement in place. The House hasn't scheduled a floor date for their bill.

3. Export-Import Bank reauthorization

The charter for the Export-Import Bank expires on May 31. Unless Congress acts, the Bank will no longer be able to guarantee loans to foreign purchasers of U.S. exports. The impact on the aerospace, power, heavy machinery and construction industries could be large. Some conservatives oppose the bank on principle as a government subsidy, even though the bank is self-funded through fees. By Friday, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) had an agreement to extend the bank’s life by three years and raise its loan limit by $40 billion. Cantor’s quest to sell the deal to his caucus before the vote will be aided by the fact that many conservative freshmen actually back reauthorizing the bank. If the bill gets through the House, the fact it is broadly similar to a Senate Banking Committee version should smooth its passage in the Senate.

4. National Flood Insurance Program reauthorization

Unless Congress acts by May 31, the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) will expire and new home sales in flood zones will grind to a halt. Existing flood protection from the nation’s only program will continue but new policies will not be underwritten after the end of the month. The chief bottleneck appears to be the Senate on this one. Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) filed a simple extension on April 24 continuing NFIP through Dec. 31.  The Federal Emergency Management Agency is pushing for a two-year extension. Senate Democrats are in consultation about whether to take up the Vitter bill or to schedule precious floor time for a larger NFIP reform bill this month, aides said. Next Wednesday, the Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing to highlight the need to reform the bill, and stakeholders plan to hold a rally on Capitol Hill for a reform approach. The House last year passed an NFIP extension with a 406 to 22 vote last July. That bill is being added to the House Budget Committee reconciliation bill, designed to replace the automatic across-the-board spending cuts set for Jan. 2 that will be marked up in committee on Monday. Because NFIP is embedded in a bill with cuts to food stamps, Obama’s health reform and Medicaid, this is not likely to be the vehicle for extending the program.

5. Russia trade

Russia is slated to enter the World Trade Organization (WTO) by July 23 and unless Congress acts, U.S. exports to Russia will face new discrimination after that date. At issue is the Jackson-Vanik amendment, enacted in the 1980s to punish the Soviet Union for preventing Jews from emigrating to Israel. The amendment technically conditions most-favored-nation trading status on congressional monitoring and approval. Under the terms of the WTO, however, MFN status must not be conditional. Unless the U.S. removes Russia from Jackson-Vanik, Russia will have the right to deny U.S. exports the lower barriers it gives other WTO members. The administration is pushing for a clean Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) bill. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) are leading a fight to tie it to a bill freezing the assets of the accused murderers of Russian whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky. Action on that bill could clear the way for PNTR passage next month.

6. Highway bill extension

Highway programs expire at the end of June unless Congress acts. The House and Senate have been unable to agree on a long-term surface transportation bill for months. House GOP leaders failed to get their conference to coalesce around their long-term approach. Centrists didn’t like cuts in a leadership bill to public transit and changes in the funding formula, and conservatives thought it spent too much.  The result has been repeated extensions. The House has passed an extension of current programs through September but that bill includes approval of the controversial Keystone pipeline, making it unlikely to clear the Senate.

7. Farm bill

Authority to pay for farm subsidies, conservation programs and food stamps expires at the end of September when the 2008 farm bill runs out. Congress will either have to pass a new five-year farm bill or extend the old bill and neither will be easy in the House, where fiscal conservatives want to see deep cuts. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told The Hill that House demands for $200 billion in cuts, most notably achieved by block granting the food stamp program to the states, is the biggest obstacle to the farm bill. The Senate Agriculture Committee in late April reported a bill over the objections of southern senators concerned about cuts to rice and peanut subsidies. The Senate Agriculture bill achieves $24 billion in deficit reduction, mostly through eliminating direct payments to farmers and replacing them with new crop insurance measures. The deficit reduction is less than the White House hoped for.  Senate Democrats say they will bring the bill to the floor even though there is no timeline for action yet in the House.

8. FDA user fees

Congress has until the Sept. 30 to reauthorize user fees that the Food and Drug Administration collects from drug and medical device companies. The fees help pay the salaries of FDA employees who decide whether to approve new drugs and devices. The House and Senate don't share the same fundamental focus, opening up the potential for a protracted fight — like the one that embroiled the 2007 reauthorization, when Democrats controlled both chambers. The Senate Health, Education and Labor Committee passed its version last month, and the first subcommittee vote in the House is scheduled for next week. The Senate version includes a mix of policies to speed the FDA's reviews while also bolstering its oversight of drug safety. House Republicans are focused almost exclusively on quicker approval.

9. Keeping the government open after Oct. 1

House and Senate appropriators are operating on different budget assumptions and this will lead to a showdown likely in the lame-duck session or early next year on how to fund the government for 2013. The fiscal year ends on Sept. 30, however, and a temporary measure will be needed to keep it running through the election. Even this continuing resolution could be contentious. Democrats say that any CR must be $1.047 trillion, the spending level set for 2013 in last August’s debt-ceiling deal. Republicans are already saying they want the CR to be at $1.028 trillion, the number in the Ryan budget, or at the very least at the current spending level of $1.043 trillion. Failure to resolve the differences could result in a government shutdown.

— Sam Baker, Russell Berman and Bernie Becker contributed.

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