Government funding has been a major challenge in getting bills passed. Strategas Securities Managing Director of Policy Research Jeannette Lowe joins Yahoo Finance Live to discuss what bills may be impacted.

Lowe acknowledges that Congress has faced limited progress due to the budget being "a heavy lift." She points out that Republicans hold a majority in the House, and the Speaker has had to resort to passing bills through "suspension of the rules," which requires Democratic votes. Lowe highlights that issues slated for discussion in the Senate include providing aid to Ukraine, a bipartisan tax bill, and China-related bills, all of which could potentially impact fiscal spending.

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Editor's note: This article was written by Angel Smith

Video Transcript

AKIKO FUJITA: When you think about where we are-- I mean, we're talking about spending on the one hand today, but what can happen between now and November? Obviously, we're in a very highly polarized environment, election year, you've got some lawmakers who are saying they're retiring as well, what are some of the key issues you're watching in the expectation of what can actually be done between now and November?

JEANNETTE LOWE: Right, and it's a great point because it is an election year, and again, the budget is such a heavy lift that we've seen how difficult it has been for Congress to get things done. The house Republicans only have a two vote majority currently. They can only lose two votes on a party line vote in order to keep their priorities in place, and that has meant that Speaker Johnson has had to pass most of the Bills that have passed recently by suspension of the rules, which requires a 2/3 vote in Congress, which requires Democratic votes.

So, the things that we're watching going forward is number one, Speaker Johnson has said that he would put Ukraine aid up on the House floor. It'll probably be different than the bill that we saw in the Senate. It could be something that's more treated like a lend lease program, that's waivable, that Ukraine actually wouldn't have to pay back. But that's something that we're watching for. That would be additional fiscal spending that Congress would be enacting during an election year.

A second big thing we're watching is this bipartisan tax bill that the House actually has already passed, and now it's up to the Senate to enact. We expect there to be lobbying in their districts over the course of the two week recess that we are currently in. And when they come back, there is the option that they might be able to pass this bill. It's important because it retroactively would apply several business tax credits that have expired.

One of the most important being the R&D tax credit to allow companies to now immediately write off those expenses for the past three years. And so that's something else that we'd be watching that would provide a more stimulus, provide about $136 billion this current fiscal year. And then the other things that we are watching is Congress is not going to do a whole lot more in an election year, but they have been focused on bills related to China.

So, we've seen the TikTok bill come up. We've seen bills banning data brokers from selling US personal data. That has the most bipartisanship in Congress right now. So, that is something else that we'll be watching to see if they get that done before the election or even in the lame duck period of Congress.