We'll know much more about what, if anything, Congress will be able to do with fiscal policy when returns from its two-week recess next week.

In the meantime, some of the plans that were discussed before the recess began, especially the possibility of Congress not completing a budget this year, may have to be abandoned in light of the new projection provided by the Congressional Budget Office that, contrary to what many on the Hill had hoped, the current debt ceiling will have to be raised before the election. (Here's what OMB Watch reported on the subject.)

Amid the current economic turmoil, the House and Senate this week passed separate versions of the fiscal 2009 congressional budget resolution.

On the one hand, this is important. For the second year in a row Congress is actually going to adopt a budget for the coming year, something that it is legally required to do but wasn't always able to do when Republicans were in the majority.