After a whirlwind of legislative activity over the past six weeks—approving the Democrats’ signature Inflation Reduction Act, the “CHIPS Plus” bill promoting semiconductor manufacturing, the PACT Act on expanding access to care and benefits for veterans exposed to toxins, a gun-control bill, and ratifying the accession of Sweden and Finland into NATO—the U.S. Congress is now fully in its summer recess period ahead of the midterm elections in November.
But many other issues remain on the legislative docket. Decisions by congressional leaders on what will be prioritized will not only be dictated by whether sufficient votes exist to ensure passage, but also by the amount of available floor time in the Senate, which will be at a high premium for the remainder of this congressional session. This snapshot provides a high-level overview of some of the most notable items that Congress could attempt to act on before the end of the year.
