Must-do for Congress: Raise debt limit, pass spending bills

WASHINGTON -- Even members of his own party were quick to declare President Donald Trump's budget plan dead on arrival in Congress last month.

And in fact, lawmakers are facing a burst of overdue budget-related work this summer.

Most of what's on the budget agenda probably won't bear much resemblance to Trump's spending plan, which promised deep spending cuts on domestic programs, rapid economic growth and a balanced federal ledger in a decade.

Instead, they're confronting an increase in the government's borrowing cap, problems in advancing annual spending bills and a smaller set of curbs on domestic-benefit programs

A look at what's ahead:

Debt dilemma

Atop the absolute must-do list is raising that borrowing cap, or debt limit. Doing so would avert a disastrous, first-ever default on U.S. obligations.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Congress should vote to raise the debt limit before leaving Washington for its traditional August recess. Lawmakers once thought they had until the fall to act.

It would be the first increase of Trump's presidency, and responsibility for passing it falls chiefly on the Republicans who control Congress.

Some conservatives, including White House budget director Mick Mulvaney and the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, want difficult spending cuts paired with the higher cap. If those efforts fail, it's commonly assumed GOP leaders would have to enlist support from Democrats to pass the legislation.

Spending deadlock

Congress is way behind on the 12 annual spending bills covering the Pentagon and other federal agencies for the upcoming 2018 budget year.

Work on those measures, totaling more than $1.1 trillion, was supposed to begin last month, but Republicans have not united behind a plan of attack, much less executed it.

GOP leaders and the White House must sort through the demands of competing factions, including defense hawks, defenders of domestic spending and tea-party lawmakers.

At the same time, they must deal with Democrats, who retain leverage because their support is needed to advance the bill.

Budget/tax issues

After health care, the next priority for Republicans is overhauling the tax system. But to do that -- at least without turning to Democrats for help -- would first require the GOP to pass a blueprint known as a budget resolution. Congress cannot wrap up action on the 2018 plan, however, until efforts to repeal the Obama-era health law are complete.

That resolution would allow for follow-up legislation on taxes and spending, including a recommended cap on annual appropriations.

Republicans are eyeing this course as a way to ease passage of a tax overhaul and cuts to benefit programs such as federal employee pensions and food stamps.

But the path ahead is tricky.

Some defense stalwarts are demanding Pentagon increases greater than Trump's, and the White House is pushing lower spending for domestic agency operations.

There are accounting tricks used in Trump's budget, but Republicans cannot resort to using them. That could lead to nonbinding but politically symbolic proposals to cut Medicare, a program Trump says he won't touch.