St. Joseph News Press - Lawmakers return to D.C. with Full Agenda

News Article

By Ken Newton

Nuclear facilities in Iran and transportation offices across America might have little in common besides the consideration members of Congress will give them this fall.

Lawmakers return to Washington today after their August recess and face a catalog of unfinished business.

Their work this autumn will be shaped by a presidential election still a year away. Five U.S. senators are announced contenders for the White House.

Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, not one of those in the running, said work needs to get done even though the nation's capital has commenced "the silly season" ... that is, the presidential campaign.

"We have some candidates that are senators and they have a tendency to want to go to the extremes in order to help win a primary," the Democratic lawmaker said in a visit to St. Joseph on last Wednesday. "That makes it even harder for us to negotiate compromises."

Some flexibility might arise in matters like passage of a long-range Highway Bill and appropriations that will keep the government operating into the next fiscal year.

Other matters -- like defunding Planned Parenthood and disapproving the Iran nuclear deal -- seem destined to accept little give on entrenched positions.

Last week, Maryland Sen. Barbara Mikulski became the 34th senator to announce support for the international agreement meant to temper Tehran's nuclear program. Passing this threshold means a presidential veto of a vote of Iran deal disapproval would stand.

Ms. McCaskill came out Aug. 20 as supportive of the negotiated deal, which she regards as imperfect but better than "to walk away in the face of unified worldwide support."

Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt, before leaving for the August congressional recess, told his colleagues the Iran deal marked "a dangerous step forward in advancing not only the illicit nuclear program that they have had up until now but the clear nuclear weapons capability they would have under this agreement."

Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran, like his fellow Republican Mr. Blunt, opposes the nuclear deal.

"Worry is widespread that this nuclear deal concedes too much and secures too little," he wrote in an op-ed piece last week. "The (agreement) fails to adequately dismantle Iran's nuclear infrastructure while rewarding a government that finances terror and proudly threatens America and our allies."

The House also will address the Iran issue. A schedule sent out Friday by Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, indicated that chamber would take up a resolution "disapproving of the agreement" Wednesday and Thursday.

The clock ticks on yet another stopgap Highway Bill, the current three-month extension expiring Oct. 28. Lawmakers have voiced the value of a long-term bill without finding agreement on how to fund it.

North Missouri Congressman Sam Graves, a Republican from Tarkio, said during a stop in St. Joseph last month that he believed a five- or six-year deal would be worked out. He chairs the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit.

Ms. McCaskill said autumn's issues can be worked out with bipartisan cooperation.

"We have a long list of things that have to be done immediately when we get back to Washington," she said in St. Joseph. "It's going to take people being willing to compromise and listen to one another, which is one of the biggest frustrations we have."

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