Sure, Congress is out this week, but debate over the two hot issues du jour – energy and health care reform – isn’t dying down. The fate of both will impact the biotech industry, so here’s a look at where things stand:

ON HEALTH CARE, both Democrats and Republicans will be pushing the issue in their home districts. Dems are stressing the economic angle in their pleas for support:

The party is preparing for a prolonged congressionl struggle over health care, however. Like talking points distributed among House Democrats, Senate Democrats are urged to reassure constituents that Democrats will improve, not threaten, the current system in which most people value their employer-provided care and want to preserve their choices of doctors and plans.

The Senate’s talking points, however, take pains to point out the fiscal necessity of reform, arguing that climbing costs are choking the country’s businesses.

“We cannot delay this discussion any longer,” reads the message to Senate Democrats. “Health care reform is no longer just a moral imperative, it is a fiscal imperative. If we want to create jobs and rebuild our economy, then we must address the crushing cost of health care this year.”

Republicans are focusing on the spectre of bureaucrat-run health care in their talking points:

Expect to hear Republicans knock the Democratic plan as one that would turn health decisions over to “Washington bureaucrats,” delay medical treatments, raise taxes and ration care. The “recess kit” distributed to House Republicans provides four pages of tips that mirror the advice of GOP consultant Frank Luntz, who wrote a detailed strategy plan on the language of health care.

“Instead of reform, Democrats are pushing for a complete government takeover of health care,” according to the House leadership materials. “House Republicans are committed to the right health care reform that puts patients first.”

Interest groups will be equally busy over recess, with many running TV ads and organizing marches, town halls and roundtables.

DEBATE OVER ENERGY ISN’T LETTING UP EITHER. One sticky issue centers on corn ethanol, with rural Dems threatening to vote against the proposed climate/energy legislation unless the EPA stops provisions that could hurt development of the biofuel. Much of the controversy centers around the EPA’s draft decision ruling that “indirect land use” must be considered when calculating the carbon footprint of corn ethanol. (Which would essentially hold the biofuels industry responsible for land use decisions around the world.)

“There’s just enough concerns that the committee members have pretty much decided to stick together — that unless we get a resolution here that we think we can live with, we don’t see how we can support this,” said House Agricultural Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (R-Minn.).

Peterson and the 26 Democrats on his committee say they will vote against climate change legislation passed by the House Energy and Commerce Committee last week unless it better addresses several concerns raised by farmers, including reversing the EPA decision.

The issue could be even dicier in the Senate, where Democrats most likely need almost every Democratic vote to pass a climate change bill. Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and 12 other farm-state senators sent a letter in March asking the EPA to refrain from including the effects of indirect land-use changes in their calculations; the agency has not yet responded, Harkin said last week.

The debates over both energy and health care show no signs of letting up this week, and we’ll keep you posted with new developments.