Weekly Tax Newsletter

The House and Senate will be together in Washington at this week — for the first time since July and what's scheduled to be the last time before November's midterm elections. THE WEEK AHEAD: So this will be the last time for awhile that there could be tax action on both sides of the Capitol.

But this much seems true: Republicans will be focusing on their signature tax cuts when proceedings kick off tomorrow. Taxes will be a focal point for Wednesday's programming at the convention.

Still, this next month's legislative schedule could help set the stage for a bipartisan tax bill that both tax writers and K Street are hoping might pass before the end of the year. The House is expected to vote this week on a stopgap measure that would extend government funding through mid-December, a proposal that has already sailed through the Senate.

Republicans face a tight timeline in trying to craft a third reconciliation package. For weeks, GOP lawmakers in the House have been more excited about that prospect than their colleagues in the Senate, pushing ideas like tamping down improper tax incentive payments.

It's time for that biennial occurrence — lawmakers angling to nab a seat on the congressional tax-writing committees. LET'S RUN IT BACK: And next year's shake-ups at the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees could be bigger than usual , as our Kelsey Brugger just reported. Who's going on (and off) the tax-writing panels is a more existential question in the House.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, who's been leading the opposition to the California proposal, along with other more establishment Democrats, started a push for a national tax on the uber-rich , as our Melanie Mason and Jeremy B. White noted. Newsom is far from the first prominent Democrat to call for a federal policy that ensures the very wealthy would pay more.

WHO YOU TRACKING? America’s tax-the-rich debate has reached the friendly skies. The air safety bill that has passed the House would make it harder for state and local tax officials across the nation to track private jets, as Pro Tax’s Brian Faler reports — a potential boon for the wealthy people who don’t like to fly commercial.

With help from Jordain Carney WELCOME BACK: Lawmakers return to Washington this week — and they’ll find that President Donald Trump’s IRS settlement remains as messy as when they left town 10 days ago. Senate Republicans stopped consideration of a top priority, a party-line immigration enforcement measure, before leaving for that recess because of concerns over the $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” created by Trump’s dropping of his lawsuit against the IRS.

With help from Danny Nguyen GONE, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN: Congress might be out of town this week, but it doesn’t look like lawmakers will be forgetting about President Donald Trump’s IRS settlement any time soon. GOP senators’ questions about the nearly $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” created by an agreement between the Justice Department, the IRS and the president, froze progress on Republicans’ immigration enforcement package late last week.

MESSAGE TO THE JUDGE: A new court filing helps explain why President Donald Trump and the government that he runs might be rushing toward a legal settlement.