Like a high school senior who keeps finding reasons to delay work on college admissions applications and essays, Congress is adept at procrastination.
And this year is no different.
Lawmakers will spend their Thanksgiving break not really sure how the final stretch of the 118th Congress will play out — with all sorts of unfinished business left on Capitol Hill.
“What I want to avoid is a shutdown,” said U.S. Rep. Austin Scott, R-Tifton, as a temporary government funding plan runs out Dec. 20, the Friday before Christmas.
In terms of major legislation, Congress needs to pass a major defense policy bill and an extension for the farm bill, as well as decide what to do with the 12 overdue government funding bills for 2025.
“Obviously, passing any piece of legislation is going to be a challenge right now,” Scott said.
While Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., wants the House to approve another temporary funding measure to keep the government running into March, not everyone is sold on that idea. That delay brings one obvious downside for the GOP, as it would make Republicans use up valuable time just as work begins in Congress to extend the Trump tax cuts that expire at the end of 2025.
“The first 100 days will be very full because we have a lot to fix,” Johnson said this week.
Maybe the biggest unknown on Capitol Hill right now is how much House Republicans will want to spend on an emergency disaster relief package to help those hit by hurricanes and other natural disasters — and whether it can get done by Christmas.
“Georgia farmers and farmers in neighboring states are suffering deeply,” U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., told a Senate panel this week as President Joe Biden readied a nearly $100 billion emergency aid package. “Congress must proceed urgently to pass disaster relief by the end of the year.”
It could be that Congress will pair disaster aid with another temporary funding extension, kicking work on those spending bills into 2025. That move would let Republicans try to make spending cuts early next year when the GOP is fully in charge.
If you’re looking for lame-duck progress, oddly enough there has been some in the Senate, where Democrats are trying to approve as many Biden-nominated judges as possible. Republicans responded with guerrilla parliamentary tactics on the Senate floor, forcing all sorts of procedural votes to delay those Biden nominees. Democrats brushed it off.
“We’ll keep doing this until the clock runs out,” said U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.
And the clock is ticking. The new Congress takes office Jan. 3.
Jamie Dupree has covered national politics and Congress from Washington since the Reagan administration. His column appears weekly in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. For more, check out his Capitol Hill newsletter at jamiedupree.substack.com.
