Trump has two months left with a Republican Congress, and the lame duck session scheduled to start next week will decide how much of his unfinished business gets done before Democrats take over. The new Congress elected Tuesday is not sworn in until January 3, 2027. Until then, the old Congress, with its Republican majorities, keeps working.
A lame duck session is the stretch between Election Day and the start of the new Congress. The name comes from the fact that many of the lawmakers voting during those weeks are on their way out, including members who just lost their races. Sen. Susan Collins, who conceded to Democrat Troy Jackson in Maine, and Sen. Jon Husted, who lost to Sherrod Brown in Ohio, still get a vote until January.
Republicans set this up on purpose. Before the election, GOP leaders pushed several major fights past November 3, betting they could handle them after the votes were counted. Congress is expected to be in session for about six or seven weeks, starting the week of November 9 and running until Christmas, with a break for Thanksgiving.
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The first deadline is government funding. In September, Congress passed and Trump signed a temporary spending bill that keeps the federal government open through December 11. If lawmakers do not pass another funding bill by then, parts of the government shut down. The country went through a 43 day shutdown last fall, the longest in modern history at the time it ended.
The funding fight is also about defense. The Trump administration requested a historic $1.5 trillion for defense spending, which Senate Democrats called a nonstarter. Republicans have also discussed a large emergency package with money for the Pentagon, farmers hit by drought and low crop prices, and disaster relief that has been stalled for months.
The biggest item on the Republican wish list is money for the war with Iran. As of September, GOP senators were talking about passing it through budget reconciliation, a special process that lets certain tax and spending bills pass the Senate with a simple majority of 51 votes instead of the 60 votes most bills need. Reconciliation is how Republicans get around a Democratic filibuster, which is the Senate rule that lets the minority party block most legislation without 60 votes. The same package could include up to $10 billion for states that tighten their voting rules.
Reconciliation takes time, though. It requires passing a budget plan first and then sitting through what are known as vote a ramas, marathon all night sessions where senators vote on amendment after amendment. Some Republican aides predicted back in September that the package would not get done before January, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune admitted it would be “difficult” even during the lame duck. That was before Republicans lost both chambers. After January 3, the window closes, because Democrats will control the Senate and decide what comes to the floor.
Other expired or expiring items are also waiting. Expanded surveillance powers under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the law that governs how the government collects foreign intelligence, lapsed in June and have not been renewed. Congress also has to pass the annual defense bill, which runs about $1.15 trillion and sets military policy, and the farm bill, which covers crop supports and food assistance programs.
Republicans have another problem: getting their own members to show up. In October, before a single vote was cast, Politico reported that GOP leaders were worried some lawmakers would not bother coming back to Washington after the election. Retiring Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, asked about getting bipartisan deals done in the lame duck, responded, “I mean, why?” Now that Republicans have lost both chambers, members who were voted out have even less reason to stick around.
Democrats are not powerless during these weeks. Most spending bills still need 60 votes in the Senate, where Republicans hold 53 seats, so Democratic senators can block anything that does not go through reconciliation. With full control of Congress starting in January, Democrats also have a reason to slow walk any deal and wait for better terms.
For Trump, the clock is now running on everything he wants from a friendly Congress. Anything that does not pass by early January will have to go through a House and Senate run by Democrats.
