Senate Republicans Return to Capitol for Voting Bill, Committee Vacancies

Republican lawmakers return to the Capitol this week facing a lengthy to-do list and demands for new voting restrictions, as Democrats jockey for an advantage ahead of the November midterm elections. Lawmakers from both parties are eager to highlight legislative victories before voters, when control of Congress is at stake.

For Senate Republicans, the agenda grew further complicated over the weekend with the death of a budget committee chair who was a key player in negotiating a party-line bill to fund additional defense spending.

Together with the ongoing absence of another senator who remains hospitalized after a fall, Senate Republicans will have to navigate a majority that is down two members. South Carolina's governor has scheduled a press conference to announce the replacement on Monday afternoon.

Republicans in both chambers remain at odds over a measure that would ban mail-in ballots and impose new rules on voting nationwide. A version of the bill was approved by the House of Representatives earlier this year almost entirely with Republican votes, but it has no path through the Senate.

The president has refused to sign a major housing bill supported by both parties in protest of the lack of progress on the voting measure. The standoff forced the House into its independence day recess earlier than expected last month, and the housing legislation went into effect on Saturday without a signature.

The impasse has also complicated the renewal of a key foreign surveillance law, which expired in June after a compromise measure to extend it was voted down. The president has tied renewal of the surveillance law to passage of the voting bill. The House is expected to vote this week on an appropriations measure for the state department and related agencies.

The Senate judiciary committee has scheduled two days of confirmation hearings for the acting attorney general, though it was unclear if the death of the committee member will affect the schedule. The intelligence committee has separately announced that the confirmation of a nominee for director of national intelligence is back on.