Lame Duck Session Begins With Lots of Unfinished Business

When Congress returns on November 14 they are scheduled for 16 legislative days in the lame duck session with a planned adjournment on December 16.  There remain multiple, big-ticket issues to resolve upon their return and with each passing day, it becomes more uncertain if they will have enough time to pass all the measures.  Some of the measures include:

Annual Appropriations:  Prior to adjourning for the general elections on September 28, Congress adopted a continuing resolution that funds federal government agencies until December 9. To date, Congress has only adopted one of the 12 annual spending bills. Lawmakers had planned to address these spending bills after the election in small packages containing three or four of the bills, known as “minibuses.” It was assumed minibuses would be more affable to lawmakers as opposed to one omnibus spending bill containing all 11 of the remaining appropriations bills.…

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