The House is recess this week and will return to Washington on Monday, November 16. The Senate is in session this week and will resume consideration of the nomination of James Knepp to be a U.S. District Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. Congress will face a packed lame-duck session, with FY 2021 government funding at the top of the agenda. Negotiations could continue on a coronavirus stimulus package after pre-election talks did not yield an agreement. Several coronavirus response programs are set to expire at the end of 2020, including emergency leave and pandemic unemployment assistance programs.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) will release all 12 of the Committee’s FY 2021 spending bills on Tuesday morning. The move sets the table for bicameral omnibus negotiations in the lame-duck session. Lawmakers have until Friday, December 11 to fund the federal government in order to avoid a shutdown, and congressional leaders have said they want a full omnibus spending deal, not another stopgap measure. It is an ambitious goal, partly because senators did not release any of their spending bills earlier this year, let alone hold markups or floor votes, while the House passed the bulk of its spending bills in late July. Tuesday’s bill release will serve as the opening offer from Senate Republicans in bicameral negotiations.
President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the election and the unresolved status of Senate control leaves slim prospects for a major stimulus package before January. While President Donald Trump last month pledged support for a large post-election COVID relief bill, it was based on his assumption that he would win re-election. He now has little political incentive — or capital — to drive a deal through a divided Congress in his remaining ten weeks in office. Conversations on a stimulus could pick up again this week, with the Senate back in session. However, Democratic and Republican lawmakers were quick to restate their opposing positions on Friday as Biden closed in on his win. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) cited falling unemployment (down to 6.9 percent, as of Nov. 6) in arguing for a “highly targeted” relief bill, while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) rejected that idea, saying “that isn’t something we should be looking at.” Additionally, members of President-elect Biden’s transition team are expected to begin conversations with congressional Democrats and aides this week to map out a strategy for the lame-duck session, with the aim of getting money for their priorities in spending legislation before the end of the year.
House Republicans will hold their leadership elections on November 17, while House Democratic leadership elections are on Nov. 18-19. All current top leaders in both caucuses are seeking re-election for the 117th Congress and are expected to win. Senate Republicans are slated to hold their leadership elections on Nov. 10 and Senate Democrats will hold theirs sometime this month — similar to the House, all top Senate party leaders are seeking re-election to their positions for the new Congress and are expected to win. Committee leadership positions and committee assignments in the House and Senate for the upcoming 117th Congress will be finalized by each party’s leadership in December.
