Before the gavel drops on the 105th Congress this fall, most if not all of the 13 annual appropriations bills probably will be passed and sent to the President's desk. Beyond that, how the final scorecard on this Congress will read remains a mystery.
A handful of issues, ranging from tax cuts to IRS reform and financial services modernization, have some chance of passing both chambers this year. Superfund and Endangered Species Act reform may be on life support, but at least are breathing.
And while fast track trade legislation appears dead for the year, a handful of other trade issues, including the always controversial renewal of most favored nation trade status for China, will capture attention.
Managed care legislation will be on the front burner in both chambers as each party attempts to seize the political high ground in the debate over patients' rights. And education and labor issues are lurking in the mix.
Any of these issues could catch fire in the limited time remaining in the session, or the agenda could be subsumed in the effort to pass a budget and the politically charged investigations into the Clinton administration.
The budget, including the effort to pass spending bills, the fight over tax cuts and any action on entitlements, will be the leading issue for the remainder of the year.
And large amounts of uncertainty surround the House version of the FY99 budget resolution, including the ultimate one: Can the House pass a budget?
The House Budget Committee passed its budget plan shortly before the Memorial Day recess, but it contains $100 billion in spending cuts, a level House GOP moderates have said is unacceptable.
In addition, the budget plan would cut transportation spending.
Subsequent to the House Budget Committee markup, both chambers passed the massive reauthorization of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act, which boosts highway spending.
House Budget Chairman John Kasich, R-Ohio, acknowledged his budget plan will need some changes before it moves to the floor, but said he did not know what changes would be necessary.
House Republicans still hope to bring the budget plan to the floor later this week. Budget Committee staffers spent the recess staffing a hotline for members to ask specific questions about the Kasich plan.
At the same time, committee members spent part of the recess calling other House Republicans to try to increase their comfort level with Kasich's plans.
However, one Republican aide said GOP leaders will not have a sense about how the budget may progress until members return to the Capitol Wednesday.
Even if the House passes its budget plan, Senate Budget Chairman Pete Domenici, R-N.M., has raised concern about whether a conference agreement is possible, based on the Kasich budget.
The Domenici plan conforms to last year's balanced budget agreement, while the House plan cuts spending below the budget deal.
Domenici has made it clear that if no budget conference agreement is reached, Congress cannot consider a budget reconciliation bill, a development that would jeopardize any plans for a tax cut this year.
Beyond the budget, tobacco appears to be an issue that will twist and turn throughout the remainder of the year, despite Congress' tight schedule and the fervent wish of some that the topic would just disappear.
President Clinton's decision to frame the debate in terms of protecting children appears to have infused tobacco legislation with a sense of urgency, since few members want to brave the charge that they failed to safeguard their constituents' kids.
The president has enlisted the congressional Democratic leadership in a solemn vow to pound Republicans into next fall should Congress fail to enact legislation.
And with control of the House hanging by a thread, Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., and his lieutenants appear reconciled to passing some kind of measure to curtail teen smoking, although it will probably bear little resemblance to the bill now pending on the Senate floor.
Clinton clearly hungers for a bill, at least in part as a feather for his legacy cap, sources said.
And many of the major players in the tobacco drama, including Vice President Al Gore, Senate Commerce Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., Gingrich and House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., are on everyone's presidential candidate short list and auguring in favor of "doing something."
The Senate has probably come too far in addressing McCain's bill to turn back now. The legislation has a very high profile, it is the one bill before Congress that can compete for air time with the ongoing White House scandals.
And the 72-26 pre-recess vote against an amendment by Sen. John Ashcroft, R-Mo., which would have gutted the bill, might presage the eventual passage of the legislation, at least in some form.
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