The Hill's Floor Action Blog reporter Pete Kasperowicz appeared on C-SPAN's "Washington Journal" Monday morning to discuss Congress returning to session.
Kasperowicz, who was joined by Jason Dick of Roll Call, told C-SPAN viewers that spending for 2013 will be atop on the lawmakers' agenda.
"We have about two weeks left before the end of the fiscal year and so they've agreed already, in fact they did this before the left for the break, they've agreed to a six-month extension on spending for the next year and that will avoid all the talk about a possible shutdown, which would play into the election, which I think no party wants," Kasperowicz said.
He said that tax rates and the looming sequester deadline will also be leading issues in this Congressional session.
"Those issues will be dealt with, I'm pretty sure, in November and December," he added.
Kasperowicz also weighed in on the public frustration with gridlock in Congress, saying that "showboating" by members on the floor can sometimes lead to political posturing, rather than legislating.
"Sometimes I think that it's these cameras that do it. You know that there's a lot of showboating and they think they're on the Jumbo-tron and it kind of amps up everything they say and they come out with posters and call each other names and the chair reminds them not to be so mean, so there are some rules about how that needs to work. They don't always follow them and, again, there's no jail for, you know, being a little silly or goofy on the floor," he said.
Get all the up-to-the-minute congressional coverage on
The Hill's Floor Action Blog.
