WASHINGTON – After a final day of partisan battles over drought relief and cybersecurity, Congress has departed for five weeks of vacation and prospects of a fall fraught with decisions on the political and economic future of the country.
Most lawmakers are headed home to make their party's case for who should be entitled to tax cuts, how the government should avoid automatic cuts to defense and domestic programs and who should be the next president.
Many will drop by the Republican and Democratic presidential conventions in Tampa, Fla., and Charlotte, N.C., respectively.
Their last day saw lawmakers fall short in finding agreement on two pressing problems: how to help livestock producers suffering from the widespread drought and how to protect critical industries from cyberattacks launched by terrorists or other enemies.
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