August is nearly over, and Congress is gone. Not much in the way of risk management and insurance matters got resolved before lawmakers took their annual summer break — hardly surprising, given that congressional attention has been focused on Obamacare. There's also talk in some quarters of shutting down the government, a tactic that backfired in the 1990s.

When lawmakers get back, they're going to have an extremely tight window of opportunity to deal with issues of interest to risk managers, brokers and insurers.

If it seems like you've read this column before, you probably have, in part because issues go unresolved Congress after Congress. But with acrimony so bitter and off-year elections looming next November, lawmakers may simply decide to throw in the towel next year absent a major domestic or foreign crisis.

Probably the easiest insurance-related issue to get off the table is the National Association of Registered Agents and Brokers Reform Act of 2013, which would create a streamlined system for interstate agency and broker licenses. Nobody's going to say the bill's perfect, but it enjoys support across the insurance industry spectrum, including that of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

This should be a no-brainer, right? But odds are many industries have what they consider no-brainer bills before Congress. There's only so much legislative oxygen on Capitol Hill, and for it to become law, NARAB II's supporters will have to make sure it doesn't become lost in the shuffle.

Another measure that has drawn support across the industry that deserves not to get lost in the shuffle is legislation that would extend the federal government's terrorism insurance backstop program. The program, created in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York's World Trade Center and elsewhere, is slated to expire at the end of next year. It already has been extended twice.

Supporters of the program have launched a campaign to extend it in order to make sure that it's on the legislative radar long before it expires. But supporters admit extending it again will be no easy task. The Obama administration doesn't support the program. The Consumer Federation of America has been vocal in its opposition. And there's always a chance some lawmakers from the tea party wing of the Republican Party will weigh in against extending the program by arguing that it's an unnecessary federal intrusion into the private market.

Another issue that could come up is changing the taxation of certain offshore reinsurance transactions. This one has divided the insurance industry, and Congress traditionally has hesitated to wade into any issue that doesn't have widespread industry support regardless of what industry's involved.

Given the House majority's skepticism over new taxes of any kind, odds don't favor congressional action this time around.