Congress Returns to Lame-Duck Session With Dec. 11 Shutdown Deadline Looming

WASHINGTON -- Congress returned Monday from the midterm elections facing a stack of unresolved fiscal deadlines and a weakened Republican majority that analysts say makes a clean spending deal before year's end unlikely.

The immediate pressure point is Dec. 11, when the current continuing resolution expires. As reported by The Washington Times, both chambers must extend government funding before that date to avert a shutdown, and lawmakers have made no visible progress on bipartisan appropriations bills since agreeing this summer to punt the fight until after the elections.

According to an analysis published by Holland & Knight, the Dec. 11 deadline is the most immediate in a series of converging year-end obligations. A partial government shutdown remains possible if the parties cannot resolve disputes over spending levels, policy riders, defense funding and Trump administration authorities before that date.

Congress has not passed a single one of the 12 annual appropriations bills for fiscal year 2027, which began Oct. 1. As reported by The Center Square, lawmakers instead locked in fiscal 2026 spending levels through the stopgap measure, leaving agencies operating well below the administration's requested funding levels.

The debt ceiling adds another layer of complexity. According to Baseline Policy, lawmakers will also be asked to raise the $41.1 trillion debt limit during the lame-duck session, a vote that is perennially difficult to corral.

On the defense side, Taxpayers for Common Sense reported that the administration is seeking $1.5 trillion in military spending -- and that the discretionary request alone represents a $250 billion increase in base Pentagon spending. Some Democratic members have already drawn a line on Iran war financing. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., said any stopgap bill should include language "prohibiting the financing of any combat activities of the U.S. military in Iran," according to The Washington Times. Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer of New York appeared to back that position, citing Congress's constitutional power of the purse.

The House Freedom Caucus, meanwhile, sent a letter to Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune outlining its own demands: a reconciliation package on debt and taxes, a continuing resolution that holds spending flat, a stock-trading ban covering Congress and the executive branch, term limits and energy permitting legislation, as reported by NBC News.

Republican leadership has not signaled which items it will tackle first. Harbinger Strategies, a Washington policy firm, said in a lame-duck preview that another CR kicking funding into 2027 is the most probable outcome, though a shutdown cannot be ruled out given partisan tensions and the reduced Republican margin following the Nov. 3 elections.

Surface transportation funding adds a secondary complication. The current CR extended those expiring authorities only through Dec. 11, forcing lawmakers to decide whether to again attach a short-term patch or push forward a longer bipartisan reauthorization bill, according to The Center Square.

The American Public Works Association noted in its weekly Washington report that the new Congress will convene in January against an already compressed legislative calendar, with no guarantee that the lame-duck session resolves any of the larger funding disputes before it adjourns.

Sources cited:
- The Washington Times (https://washingtontimes.com/news/2026/nov/8/lawmakers-confront-midterm-upheaval-big-list-congress-returns-lame)
- Holland & Knight (https://www.hklaw.com/en/insights/publications/2026/10/beyond-the-midterms-congress-faces-converging-year-end-deadlines)
- Baseline Policy (https://baselinepolicy.substack.com/p/what-are-the-upcoming-budget-policy)
- The Center Square (https://www.thecentersquare.com/national/article_4e89e1fb-5ca9-473e-9e74-6069b8fa2d6e.html)
- Taxpayers for Common Sense (https://www.taxpayer.net/budget-appropriations-tax/treading-water-in-the-lame-duck-session/)
- NBC News (https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/live-blog/trump-2026-midterm-elections-senate-house-supreme-court-live-updates-rcna608235)
- Harbinger Strategies (https://harbingerdc.com/lame-duck-preview-2026-1016/)
- American Public Works Association (https://www.apwa.org/advocacy/washington-report-november-9-2026/)