WASHINGTON — When Congress returns to Washington on Tuesday after a monthlong summer recess, Americans may witness something rare and strange on Capitol Hill: a glimmer, ever so faint, of bipartisanship.

After eight months of legislative dysfunction and gridlock, Hurricane Harvey appears to have brought Republicans and Democrats together around the most basic of congressional duties: aiding Americans whose lives and homes have been wrecked by a natural disaster, and keeping the government open.

With parts of Texas and Louisiana underwater, shelters overflowing and the search for survivors still underway, the two parties appear inclined to cooperate with each other on at least the first steps toward an emergency response that could eventually top $100 billion. The White House forwarded an initial $7.85 billion request Friday night.

President Trump’s threat to shut down the government over funding for a border wall, which dominated the discussion in Washington before the storm hit, is now “off the table,” said Representative Charlie Dent, Republican of Pennsylvania. The debate over the wall, and how to pay for it, will almost certainly be delayed, as Congress wrestles instead with contentious must-pass measures to fund the federal government and raise the statutory borrowing limit.