From now until December 20, Congress has a full plate of issues to deal with before the Republican trifecta takes hold of political Washington in January. All the items on the agenda are fraught with varying levels of political risk.
Government Funding – Speaker Johnson has said he wants to pass a short-term stopgap funding bill to keep the government open past the December 20 deadline. Strategically, this could be a risky move for President-elect Trump’s 100 day agenda.
Moving a short-term measure would ensure Congress is wrapped up in a funding debate for the first quarter of 2025, all while Johnson has a barebones majority. On top of that, assembling a three-month continuing resolution would be a heavy lift for Congress. The Pentagon hates short term funding bills. The spending anomalies would make this a huge bill that runs thousands of pages.
Disaster relief and the farm bill. The White House sent Congress a $98.4 billion bill on Monday to help the storm-stricken Southeast. This is in line with what congressional leadership thought the price tag would be. Leadership wants it passed but will the rank and file support such as hefty price tag?
For the past six decades, Congress has passed the annual Pentagon policy bill. There is talk of adding to the bill provisions to crack down on China which makes passage challenging with such tight margins.