Lawmakers face jam-packed agenda after elections with government funding and debt limit on the horizon

By Clare Foran and Tami Luhby, CNN

Washington (CNN) — Lawmakers on Capitol Hill face major deadlines and key issues on their to-do list after the November elections, including averting a federal government shutdown before the end of 2024 and taking action to address the debt limit in the new year.

The November elections – where control of the White House and both chambers of Congress are at stake – will shake up the political landscape, creating uncertainty over how lawmakers will tackle the challenges ahead. Another unknown is the fate of future Republican leadership in both the House and the Senate, a dynamic that will factor heavily into how legislative fights play out.

In the immediate aftermath of the elections, funding the government will take center stage as lawmakers confront a December 20 funding deadline during a lame-duck session – the post-election period before the newly elected Congress is sworn in.

There are also growing calls for Congress to pass quickly additional disaster relief in the wake of hurricanes Milton and Helene and the widespread damage caused by the storms.

A new Congress will convene in the opening days of 2025, and lawmakers will have to confront the federal debt limit, which will be reinstated on January 2, a challenging and high-stakes issue that often comes down to the wire on Capitol Hill.

Funding fight

Congress set up a spending fight at the end of this year after passing a stopgap bill in late September to fund the federal government until December 20.

Pushing the funding deadline into December raises questions over how lawmakers will prevent a holiday season shutdown. And the outcome of the elections will determine how strong – or weak – a hand House Speaker Mike Johnson and other Hill leaders have to play in spending talks.

Many lawmakers, and conservatives in particular, oppose sweeping spending packages known as an omnibus. But Hill leaders could face pressure to either take that route or pass yet another stopgap bill since there will be little time after the election to pass individual appropriations bills for various government agencies.

Lawmakers will also have to confront the issue of disaster relief when they return to Washington.

President Joe Biden and other leaders have warned that Congress will soon need to pass additional funding to fill the federal government’s rapidly dwindling disaster-relief coffers after two major hurricanes slammed into the Southeastern US.

The Small Business Administration’s disaster loan program has already run out of funding due to high demand from constant extreme weather disasters, adding further urgency to the calls for Congress to act. The SBA’s fund is different than the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster relief fund, which provides assistance to individuals impacted by hurricanes.

Debt Limit

The debt limit will loom large early in the new year when it is reinstated on January 2, presenting a challenge for the new Congress. Addressing the debt ceiling is crucial so the federal government can continue borrowing to pay existing financial obligations that lawmakers and presidents have already approved.

After the limit is reinstated, the Treasury Department can take what are known as “extraordinary measures” and use the cash it has on hand to prolong the amount of time before a default could occur. It is challenging to predict the timing of the so-called X date, the point when the US would be unable to pay all its bills in full and on time, a likely catastrophic scenario that would trigger wide-ranging global economic impacts.

That deadline may not come until months after the debt limit is reinstated, and lawmakers frequently wait until the last minute to act. But pressure will ramp up on the new Congress and the new presidential administration to either raise or suspend the debt limit once it is reinstated in early January.

The US has never defaulted on its obligations and leaders of both parties want to avoid a default. But fiscal conservatives and deficit hawks are likely to try to force spending and budget cuts in exchange for addressing the debt limit as they did in 2023 – and may have some leverage, particularly if Republicans do well in the November elections.

The difficulty of pinpointing the “X date” with specificity, in addition to the fact that the debt ceiling has become highly subject to political brinksmanship, makes addressing the limit a risky prospect for lawmakers.

“Congress thrives on deadlines and operating at the last minute,” said Shai Akabas, the executive director of economic policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center. “When it comes to the debt limit, there is no definitive last minute because we don’t know exactly when that point will arrive, unlike a government shutdown.”

Akabas continued, “I definitely think the dynamics next year create a particularly uncertain and potentially more volatile situation than we have seen in the past and that will of course depend on the elections, but we know that there’s going to be a new administration and that there could be new majorities in both the House and the Senate.”

Defense policy bill and other key issues

Another agenda item during the lame duck session will be for Congress to pass a final, compromise version of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2025.

The House and Senate have put forward their own versions of the annual, must-pass defense policy bill and top lawmakers must now reconcile those two measures — including differences in spending levels and policy provisions — by negotiating a final version that can pass both chambers.

The NDAA outlines the policy agenda for the Department of Defense and the US military and authorizes spending for Pentagon priorities, though it does not appropriate the funding itself.

The Republican-led House voted in June to pass its version of the bill for fiscal year 2025, while the Senate Armed Services Committee, led by Democrats, has voted to advance that chamber’s version of the legislation.

Lawmakers are also facing a year-end deadline to renew key agriculture policy when Congress returns after the elections.

The farm bill – a sweeping piece of legislation that sets food and agriculture policy in the United States – is typically renewed every five years, but can also be renewed through shorter-term extensions. In 2023, Congress passed a one-year extension of the 2018 farm bill, which ran through September 30. But key programs under the farm bill don’t lose funding until December 31, setting up yet another major deadline at the end of the year for Congress to act during the lame duck session.

When lawmakers return to Washington, the pressure will be on to reauthorize the legislation by passing a new five-year farm bill or another shorter-term extension.

In addition, key provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 — the law that former President Donald Trump championed — are set to expire at the end of 2025, including more than $3.4 trillion in individual income and estate tax cuts. As a result, negotiations over a tax package will be a major issue for the new Congress and the new administration.

CNN’s Lauren Fox and Ted Barrett contributed to this report.

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