国会只剩下三个立法日来避免本周末即将到来的政府关门，它保持政府运转的能力在很大程度上取决于立法者是否能克服能源政策上的僵局。
在剩下的几天里，参议院多数党领袖查克·舒默(Chuck Schumer)将试图领导参议院通过一项短期拨款法案，预计该法案将包括参议员乔·曼钦(Joe Manchin)的能源许可改革立法。舒默与曼钦达成协议，将能源许可改革纳入9月30日财年结束前必须通过的一项立法，这是西弗吉尼亚州温和派民主党人的首要任务，以确保曼钦对民主党人的关键通胀削减法案的关键支持。
但随着医疗保健和环境法案的通过，舒默的幕后交易得到了报应。本财年将于周五结束，这使得两院的民主党核心小组在关门前几天陷入严重分歧。
周二，参议院将进行一次关键的测试投票，以决定曼钦立法的命运，因为它将考虑一项为政府提供资金的法案，直到12月中旬。
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer speaks during a news conference, Sept. 20, 2022.
Mariam Zuhaib/AP
在白宫的支持下，舒默坚持他的承诺，将周三提出的曼钦法案纳入短期融资法案。曼钦法案将加速能源项目，要求联邦环境审查基本上在两年半内完成，比今天的进程有了实质性的提高。
在《华尔街日报》周日发表的一篇专栏文章中，曼钦认为，他提议的立法将通过将能源产品的时限从目前的5年缩短到10年，使该国与加拿大和澳大利亚等盟国保持一致。
他称他的法案加快了风能和太阳能等可再生能源项目以及石油和天然气等不可再生能源项目的许可程序，“如果我们要捍卫国家的能源安全，防止那些似乎执意削弱它的人，美国需要这种平衡和全面的能源方法。”
但事实证明，对于一些进步人士来说，这是一颗难以下咽的药丸，他们中的许多人在爱尔兰共和军投票前就知道舒默-曼钦协议的轮廓，但不知道上周末刚刚公布的细节。他们反对他们认为与爱尔兰共和军应对气候变化的进程背道而驰的协议。
俄勒冈州参议员杰夫·默克里。据俄勒冈州民主党人的一名助手称，正在组织一封给舒默的信，由包括参议员伯尼·桑德斯在内的一些自由派参议员签名，要求就加快许可的立法进行投票，与为政府提供资金的投票分开进行。
但参议院小组，像80多名反对众议院协议的众议院进步人士一样，没有威胁说如果允许改革，他们将投票反对政府拨款法案。
然而，桑德斯明确表示，如果政府包括曼钦的法案，他打算投票反对为政府提供资金。
在周五的一封措辞严厉的亲爱的同事信中，桑德斯敦促他的议员同事阻止“参议员曼钦最近推出的灾难性的附带协议，以使化石燃料行业更容易摧毁地球和污染环境。”
“下周，国会要做出一个根本性的选择。我们可以听听化石燃料行业和否认气候变化的人在游说和竞选捐款上投入了大量资金，以通过这项附带协议。或者我们可以听听科学家和环保团体大声明确地告诉我们拒绝它，”桑德斯写道。
正是桑德斯在分歧严重的参议院中的反对让舒默陷入了某种困境。他需要共和党在政府资金上的投票，但共和党人-觉得他们有影响力-急于报复曼钦，因为他们认为他背叛了他，当时他从反对民主党的全面气候和健康法案转向投决定性的“是”票。
曼钦在周日的专栏中指责共和党领导层玩弄政治，阻碍他的立法，同时推动他的家乡共和党同事参议员谢莉·摩尔·卡皮托(Shelley Moore Capito)提出的竞争法案，尽管该法案略显昂贵。这两项法案非常相似，尤其是在两者都保证批准西弗吉尼亚州的一个顶级项目——尚未建成的山谷管道，该管道旨在将天然气从西弗吉尼亚州北部输送到弗吉尼亚州南部约300英里。该项目因诉讼而受阻。
这部分是因为绿色山谷管道项目，卡皮托说，她打算在谈到地板时支持曼钦的立法。她将在周二的测试投票中支持附有曼钦法案的短期拨款法案。
但还不清楚其他共和党人是否准备好让曼钦再次获胜。
据一名助手称，曼钦周末一直在打电话，争取其他几名共和党人的支持。他仍然相信有一条通往60票的必经之路，以清除周二对短期资金法案的程序性投票，该法案将包括他的立法。
尽管曼钦很乐观，但投票面临着巨大的阻力。这就是为什么有一个后备计划，以保持政府资助。
如果该法案未能获得必要的60票继续进行，舒默很可能会剥夺曼钦的允许改革立法并向前推进。这不仅对维持华盛顿的正常运转至关重要，而且对确保其他一些两党优先事项的资金也至关重要。
两党都支持提供额外的资金来帮助乌克兰对抗俄罗斯。短期拨款法案预计将包括至少120亿美元对乌克兰的经济和人道主义援助。
预计该法案还将包括对密西西比州持续的水危机杰克逊的灾难援助。上个月杰克逊的一场洪水导致了该地区多年的供水系统故障，导致居民无法获得干净的饮用水。
食品药品监督管理局潜在的融资危机也将得以避免。经过几个月的幕后争吵，谈判人员上周晚些时候达成协议，将重新授权FDA用户费用的语言纳入这一短期计划。向FDA寻求新药授权的公司必须每五年更新一次这些费用的授权。当前授权将于周五到期。
美国食品和药物管理局使用使用费来资助新的和创新的药物和医疗技术的快速批准过程。通过在短期法案中加入这种语言，FDA将不会向在疫情期间帮助批准新冠肺炎疫苗的工人发送解雇通知书。
但是，其他新冠肺炎优先事项预计将再次半途而废。
政府希望国会批准额外的220亿美元资金来对抗新冠肺炎，以资助疫苗研究和额外的测试。共和党人阻止了确保这些资金的多项努力，辩称仍有剩余资金有待利用，并质疑额外支出的必要性。
然而，拜登本月早些时候在“60分钟”节目中说，“疫情已经结束了”，这无助于政府确保COVID资金的努力
共和党党鞭约翰·图恩(John Thune)上周告诉记者，拜登的言论使说服共和党支持额外资金“明显更加困难”。
来自白宫的另外一项40亿美元的对抗猴痘的请求的命运仍然不确定。
预计参议院将在本周某个时候采取行动，以避免政府关门，届时众议院将不得不迅速着手通过这项立法。众议院多数党领袖Steny Hoyer表示，如果有必要，众议院可能会在周末工作以确保资金。
Senate stumbles toward government shutdown with impasse over energy policy
Congress has just three legislative days remaining to avert a fast-approaching government shutdown at the end of the week, and much of its ability to keep the government running will depend upon whether lawmakers can navigate an impasse over energy policy.
In the few days that remain, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will try to lead the Senate in passage of a short-term funding bill that is expected to include Sen. Joe Manchin's energy permitting reform legislation. Schumer struck a deal with Manchin to include energy permitting reform, a top priority for the West Virginia moderate Democrat, on a must-pass piece of legislation before the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30 in order to secure Manchin's crucial support for Democrats' keystone Inflation Reduction Act.
But with the passage of the health care and environmental bill now in the rearview mirror, Schumer's behind-the-scenes deal making has come home to roost. The fiscal year ends on Friday, leaving the Democratic caucus in both chambers deeply divided with just days to a shutdown.
On Tuesday, the Senate will take a key test vote to determine the fate of Manchin's legislation as it considers a bill to fund the government through mid-December.
Schumer, with the backing of the White House, is sticking to his promise to include the Manchin legislation, introduced Wednesday, in the short-term funding bill. The Manchin bill would accelerate energy projects mandating that federal environmental reviews essentially be completed in two and a half years, a substantial increase from today's process.
In a Wall Street Journal op-ed published Sunday, Manchin argued that his proposed legislation would bring the country in line with allied countries like Canada and Australia by reducing timelines on energy products from the current five to 10 years.
He called his bill, which speeds up permitting process for both renewable projects like wind and solar as well as non-renewable energies like oil and gas, "the kind of balanced and all-of-the-above energy approach America needs if we are to defend this nation's energy security from those who seem hell-bent on weakening it."
But it's proven a tough pill to swallow for some progressives, many of whom knew of the outlines of the Schumer-Manchin deal before the IRA vote but not the specifics, which were just unveiled at the end of last week. They're pushing back against what they see as a deal that goes counter to the very progress the IRA is expected to make against climate change.
Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., is organizing a letter to Schumer -- signed by a number of liberal senators, including Sen. Bernie Sanders -- asking that a vote on legislation speeding up permits occur separately from one on funding the government, according to an aide to the Oregon Democrat.
But the Senate group, like the more than 80 House progressives who oppose the deal in the House, stopped short of threatening to vote against the government funding bill if permitting reform is attached.
Sanders, however, has said unequivocally he intends to vote against funding the government if it includes Manchin's bill.
In a scathing dear colleague letter on Friday, Sanders urged his fellow lawmakers to block the "disastrous side deal recently introduced by Senator Manchin to make it easier for the fossil fuel industry to destroy the planet and pollute the environment."
"Next week, Congress has a fundamental choice to make. We can listen to the fossil fuel industry and climate deniers who are spending huge amounts of money on lobbying and campaign contributions to pass this side deal. Or we can listen to the scientists and the environmental community who are telling us loudly and clearly to reject it," Sanders wrote.
It is that Sanders' opposition in the narrowly divided Senate that has put Schumer in something of a bind. He needs GOP votes on government funding, but Republicans -- feeling they have leverage -- are anxious to pay Manchin back for what they see as his betrayal when he pivoted from opposing the Democrats' sweeping climate and health bill to casting the deciding "yes" vote.
Manchin, in his Sunday op-ed, accused GOP leadership of playing politics in standing in the way of his legislation while promoting a competing, though slightly more expensive, bill by his home state GOP colleague, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito. The bills are remarkably similar, especially in that both guarantee the approval of a top project for West Virginia -- the as-yet-unbuilt Mountain Valley Pipeline which is intended to carry natural gas some 300 miles from northern West Virginia into southern Virginia. The project is tied up in litigation.
It's in part because of the greenlighted Mountain Valley Pipeline project that Capito said she intends to support Manchin's legislation when it comes to the floor. She'll back the short term funding bill with Manchin's legislation attached during Tuesday's test vote.
But it's not clear if other Republicans will be ready to give Manchin another win.
According to an aide, Manchin spent the weekend working the phones and shored up the support of several other Republicans. He's still confident there's a path to the 60 votes necessary to clear Tuesday's procedural vote on the short term funding bill that will include his legislation.
Despite Manchin's optimism, that vote faces major headwinds. That's why there's a backup plan to keep the government funded.
If the bill fails to get the necessary 60 votes to proceed, Schumer is largely expected to strip Manchin's permitting reform legislation and barrel forward. That's essential not only to keep the lights on in Washington but also to secure funds for a few other bipartisan priorities.
There is support from both parties for additional funding to assist Ukraine in the ongoing war against Russia. The short term funding bill is expected to include at least $12 billion in economic and humanitarian aid for Ukraine.
The bill is also expected to include disaster aid for Jackson, Mississippi's ongoing water crisis. A flood in Jackson last month brought to a head years of water system failures in the area, leaving residents without access to clean drinking water.
A potential funding crisis at the Food and Drug Administration will also be averted. After months of behind-the-scenes squabbling, negotiators reached an agreement late last week to include language reauthorizing FDA user fees in this short term package. Authorization for those fees on companies which seek authorization from the FDA for new drugs must be renewed every five years. Current authorization expires Friday.
The FDA uses the user fees to fund an expedited approval process for new and innovative drugs and medical technologies. By including this language in the short term bill, the FDA won't be sending pink slips to workers who helped authorize COVID-19 vaccines during the pandemic.
But other COVID-19 priorities are expected to fall by the wayside, yet again.
The administration wanted Congress to approve an additional $22 billion in funds to combat COVID-19 to fund vaccine research and additional testing. Republicans have blocked multiple efforts to secure these funds, arguing that there is still remaining funding that's yet to be utilized, and questioning the necessity of additional spending.
The administration's efforts to secure COVID money were not helped, however, by Biden's comments on "60 Minutes" earlier this month that "the pandemic is over."
Republican Whip John Thune told reporters last week that Biden's comments make it "eminently harder for sure" to persuade the GOP to support additional funds.
The fate of a separate $4 billion request from the White House to combat monkeypox remains uncertain.
The Senate is expected to act sometime this week to avert a shutdown, at which point the House will have to swiftly take up and pass the legislation. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said the chamber may work through the weekend to secure funding if necessary.
