The Week of September 15

Congress will have to work at lightspeed to cover its wish list - energy fixes, a second stimulus package, popular tax extenders, a defense authorization bill and a budget tide-over bill - before its target head-home date of September 26. It may end up colliding a few of those efforts together, creating exotic bills that can whip enough votes for passage - or, of course, end up in a legislative black hole.

Energy: Both the House and Senate could unfold energy packages this week, mixing up off-shore drilling measures with a menu of possible add-ons, including tax breaks and funding for alternative energy, a mandate to use renewable energy for electricity production, tighter regulations on energy speculators, heating assistance and taxes on the oil industry. First up could be a House bill that allows drilling 50 miles off shore in states that sign on (although states wouldn't get to share the oil revenue). Pols disagree over how genuine the efforts are to find compromises on energy - or how much the bills are being crafted to give incumbents cover at the polls in November.

Taxes: $42 billion in alternative energy tax incentives could get folded into a larger tax extender bill in the Senate. A pile of popular tax breaks - including research and development credits and middle-class cover from the Alternative Minimum Tax - are set to expire this year, unless Congress rolls them over; but disagreement of how much those tax perks need to be paid for by budget offsets elsewhere have kept the House members and senators from finding a tax bill that can pass.

Defense: The Senate is closing in on passage of the yearly Defense Authorization bill (S 3001), although a one-senator stand to keep earmarks out of the final conference bill (which is not openly voted on) is holding up a final vote.

A second stimulus: With a still flagging economy, Congress plans a second - $50 billion - cash injection to stoke spending, but instead of checks to taxpayers this time the boost will come in the form of infrastructure investments, cash to help states with Medicaid costs, home heating help and a possible expansion of food stamp coverage.

09's budget: In theory, Congress is supposed to finish a budget by October 1, when fiscal year '09 starts. In practice, Dems have known all year they'd be punting the passage of a final budget to January, when they hope to have a more sympatico president. In the meantime, Congress will have to pass a "continuing resolution" to keep the government funded using 08's budget numbers.