With Congress out this week, much of the town is preparing for major events next week, including the president's bipartisan health care summit on Thursday. Ahead of the event, President Obama will take matters into his own hands and put forward a comprehensive health care bill on Monday that's intended to bridge differences between the Senate and House measures. This bill would be attached to a budget bill and then blasted through Congress via the reconciliation process, averting a Republican filibusters and advancing on a simple majority vote.  

This reconciliation bill from the White House has more affordability subsidies, the union-tweaked Cadillac tax, and fills in the gap in seniors' drug coverage, which would be paid for primarily by additional Medicare cuts and an increase in Medicare payroll taxes. Still, neither Pelosi nor Reid know if they even have the votes to pass this bill. 

The financial reform debate also heats up next week as the administration is preparing to push for higher capital requirements for banks. Although the White House remains optimistic that a reform bill will be passed, there is also an acceptance that they may have to rely on an executive order. If the much-debated "Volcker rule" is not approved, the Fed and other bank regulators could be asked to fine-tune capital requirements to make risky activity more expensive.

On the topic of executive orders, the President said "Everything is on the table" while signing the order to form a debt-reduction commission.