Congress returns to the Capitol today after a month-long recess period. The top order of business this month is passing a short-term funding bill to avoid a government shutdown on October 1st – and they have as little as two weeks in the current work schedule to get that done. House Republican leadership wants to move a stopgap funding bill, also known as a continuing resolution (CR), that lasts through early December. The Senate is expected to follow shortly afterward. Such a stopgap is expected to do little more than extend fiscal 2014 spending levels and policy directives (PL 113-76) through December 11th or 12th. Reaching a final agreement on FY15 spending will be work for the lame-duck session of Congress in November.