5 Key Issues To Watch As The 118th Congress Wraps Up Its Final Week

Congress faces a high-stakes final week of its 118th session, with lawmakers racing to avert a government shutdown, finalize hurricane relief, and secure funding for farmers.

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is also on the docket, potentially testing President Biden’s promise to veto discriminatory legislation.

Five things to be watching this week — the final week of the 118th Congress — at the United States Capitol:

ONE: Avoiding a government shutdown. Congress must pass a stopgap funding measure, a continuing resolution (CR), by midnight Friday to keep federal agencies operating. As of late Monday afternoon, house leaders had yet to release the final text of the CR, which could be problematic. The house has a 72-hour rule, mandating that no votes are taken on legislation until lawmakers have had at least three days to review it. They could potentially waive this rule, but either way, the timing of this could be very much worth watching, since it will also have to get through the Senate.

TWO: Help for farmers. It’s expected the CR will also contain a one-year extension of the 2018 Farm Bill, which has already been extended 18 months from its original end date. The big question, and reportedly one of the things holding up the completion of the CR, is whether It will also include additional aid for farmers (as much as $12 billion), many of whom were hit hard by hurricanes Helene and Milton.

THREE: Hurricane relief funding. Something else to look for in the continuing resolution is disaster relief funding to help, not just farmers, but the communities more broadly that were devastated by those hurricanes. The Biden administration had originally asked for nearly $100 billion in aid to support communities devastated this fall. The amount would be much smaller than that, but some Republicans oppose including any at all in the CR.

FOUR: How many Republicans will vote for the CR? It’s expected that GOP leadership will have difficulty passing a rule to govern the consideration of the bill on the House floor; under a rule, legislation in the House needs a simple majority for passage. Without a rule, the bill would have to be considered under what is known as ‘unanimous consent’ and would need a two-thirds majority to pass. That would mean a substantial number of Democrats would also have to vote in favor of the CR, which is why House GOP leaders have involved Democrats in the negotiations.

FIVE: Final passage of NDAA. The House easily passed the National Defense Authorization Act, Congress’s annual defense policy bill, last week, 281-140. It should pass with similar bipartisan support this week (Wednesday, most likely) in the Senate, despite a culture war provision that angered some Democrats. The 2025 NDAA would end funding for gender-affirming treatment for children (under age 18) of active duty service members. President Biden has said in the past he would veto any legislation that discriminates against transgender Americans, so this could test him on that promise.