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CNN
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Lawmakers on Capitol Hill face important deadlines and major challenges on their post-November election to-do list, including avoiding a federal government shutdown by the end of 2024 and addressing the debt ceiling issue in the new year. There is.
November’s elections, with control of the White House and both chambers at stake, will shake up the political landscape and create uncertainty about how lawmakers will tackle the challenges ahead. Another unknown is the fate of future Republican leadership in the House and Senate, and this dynamic will have a major impact on how the legislative battle plays out.
Immediately after the election, government funding took center stage as lawmakers faced a Dec. 20 funding deadline during a lame-duck session. becomes.
Hurricanes Milton and Helen and the widespread damage caused by the storms have also increased calls for Congress to quickly pass additional disaster relief.
When the new Congress convenes early in 2025, lawmakers will have to face the federal debt limit that will be reinstated on January 2nd, a difficult and high-stakes issue that is often telegraphed to the Capitol. It will be.
Congress launched a spending fight at the end of the year after passing a stopgap bill in late September that would fund the federal government through Dec. 20.
Pushing the funding deadline back to December raises questions about how lawmakers will prevent holiday closures. And the outcome of the election will determine how strong or weak House Speaker Mike Johnson and other Hill leaders are in spending negotiations.
Many lawmakers, particularly conservatives, oppose the sweeping spending package, known as an omnibus. But with little time after the election to pass individual spending bills for various government agencies, Hill leaders face pressure to either go that route or pass yet another stopgap bill. There is a possibility that
Lawmakers will also have to confront disaster relief issues once they return to Washington.
President Joe Biden and other leaders say Congress must soon pass additional funding to fill rapidly dwindling federal disaster relief coffers after two major hurricanes hit the southeastern United States. I was warned that there would be.
The Small Business Administration’s disaster loan program is already underfunded due to high demand from persistent extreme weather disasters, making calls for Congress to act even more urgent. The SBA’s funds are different from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Disaster Relief Fund, which provides assistance to individuals affected by hurricanes.
The debt ceiling will be reinstated on January 2nd, so the amount will grow early in the new year, posing a challenge for the new Congress. Addressing the debt ceiling is critical to ensuring that the federal government can continue borrowing to pay off existing fiscal debt that lawmakers and the president have already approved.
Once restrictions are reinstated, the Treasury could take so-called “extraordinary measures” to use cash on hand to extend the time before a default occurs. The timing of the so-called X date is difficult to predict and is the point at which the United States will no longer be able to pay all its bills in full and on time, likely causing a catastrophic impact on the broader global economy. It’s a scenario.
That deadline could come months after the debt limit is reinstated, and lawmakers often wait until the last minute to act. But if the debt ceiling is reinstated in early January, pressure will increase on the new Congress and the new presidential administration to either raise it or suspend it.
The United States has never met its obligations, and leaders of both parties want to avoid default. But fiscal conservatives and deficit hawks are likely to try to force spending and budget cuts instead of tackling the debt limit as they did in 2023, especially if Republicans do well in the November elections. may have influence.
The difficulty of pinpointing a specific “date,” coupled with the fact that the debt ceiling is heavily influenced by political brinkmanship, makes addressing it a dangerous prospect for lawmakers. There is.
“Congress thrives on meeting deadlines and operating at the last minute,” said Shai Akabas, executive director of economic policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center. “When it comes to the debt ceiling, unlike a government shutdown, there is no definitive last moment because we don’t know exactly when that point will be.”
Akabas continued: “I definitely think the dynamics of next year will create a particularly uncertain and potentially more volatile situation than we’ve ever seen before. It depends on the election, of course, but we We know there will be a new government, and there will likely be new majorities in both the House and the Senate.”
Defense Policy Bill and other major issues
Another item on the agenda during the lame duck session is for Congress to pass a final compromise version of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025.
The House and Senate have introduced their own versions of the must-pass annual defense policy bill, and leading lawmakers will now negotiate a final version that can pass both chambers, including differences in spending levels and policy provisions. , these two bills need to be reconciled.
The NDAA outlines the policy agenda of the Department of Defense and the U.S. military and authorizes spending for Department of Defense priorities, but does not appropriate the funds themselves.
The Republican-led House of Representatives voted in June to pass the fiscal year 2025 bill, but the Democratic-led Senate Armed Services Committee voted to advance it.
Lawmakers also face a year-end deadline to update key farm policies when Congress returns after the election.
The Farm Bill is the comprehensive law that sets food and agricultural policy for the United States, and is typically renewed every five years, but may be renewed for short periods of time. In 2023, Congress passed a one-year extension of the 2018 Farm Bill, ending September 30th. But major programs under the Farm Bill won’t lose funding until Dec. 31, creating another big deadline at the end of the year. Congress to act during a lame duck session.
When lawmakers return to Washington, there will be pressure to reauthorize the bill by passing a new five-year farm bill or an even shorter extension.
Additionally, key provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, championed by former President Donald Trump, are set to expire at the end of 2025, including more than $3.4 trillion in personal income and estate tax cuts. As a result, tax negotiations will be a major challenge for the new Congress and the new administration.
CNN’s Lauren Fox and Ted Barrett contributed to this report.
