A JUICY LAME DUCK
By Lisa Desjardins, @LisaDNews
Correspondent

Folks, let’s get straight to this.
 
The 117th Congress has 33 days of existence left. And of those, the House plans to be in Washington for just 11. For the Senate, that number is 16.
 
That is a very short time frame for what could be one of the most dramatic and potentially consequential lame duck sessions of Congress in modern memory.
 
Why?
One reason is evergreen – Congress procrastinates. Some major items, like funding the government, are brushed off regularly until the end of a session.
 
The other is less common. House Republicans’ impending control of the chamber raises an unusual set of dynamics.  
 
Plainly put, House Republicans’ moves are seen as much harder to predict, and far less likely to be moderate, than any other group in power at the Capitol. Many lawmakers, including some Senate Republicans, see a better chance to pass bipartisan legislation now, with a Democratic House, than with a Republican House later.   
 
What is on the table? First, the must-pass bills

• By Dec. 9: Avoid a rail strike. No, this is not a “West Wing” plotline. A rail strike is looming ahead of Christmas, but Congress can avoid it by imposing an agreement or by giving negotiators an extension past their current Dec. 9 deadline. Congressional leaders signaled on Tuesday they would work to avoid a strike.
• By Dec. 16: Fund government. This could go a few ways. It now seems likely we will see at least a very short temporary funding bill to buy a few days. What comes after that is less clear. Democrats especially would love an omnibus-ish appropriations bill with specific new funding levels to get through the fiscal year. But some Republicans want instead to do a long temporary funding bill. It could get messy.
• National Defense Authorization Act. This bill sets the framework and guidelines for defense spending and likely will include other key military authorizations, like for the Coast Guard. It also will be a target of unrelated or semi-related bills looking for a must-pass vehicle (like military spending) to help them become law.

 Other key priorities

• The Respect for Marriage Act. This bill would give national legal status to any same-sex marriage certified or recognized by a state. The Senate is poised to pass it today, possibly by the time this email arrives in your inbox.
• Electoral Count Act. This is the bipartisan push to revise the archaic law overseeing how Congress counts the electoral vote. The aim of the bill is to clarify the law and to rule out misinterpretations, including the idea that a sitting vice president could unilaterally stop the election results.
• Judicial nominations. Democrats will continue to work on filling as many federal bench seats as they can, ticking them through the Senate process.

And still more high-stakes ideas in play

• Ukraine aid. President Joe Biden has asked for about $40 billion.
• COVID aid. He’s also requested another $9 billion in funding to help navigate a potential winter surge.
• Immigration reform. Democrats particularly want to pass protections for DACA recipients that would give them permanent status.
• Raising the debt ceiling. If Congress doesn’t act now, it could become a volatile political tool in the spring. 
• Extending tax breaks. This is an annual ritual in which several one-year tax breaks are usually extended. Corporate America is particularly hoping that a major research and development break that’s set to expire will be extended.
• Permitting reform. This is a push by Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and others to make the approval process easier for energy infrastructure projects.

But let’s be honest here: All of that is going to have to fit into just a few weeks. That could mean that working into the new year is on the table, especially if Congress doesn’t act quickly in the next few days to get things in motion.

DESPITE HISTORIC WINS, BLACK WOMEN STILL UNDERREPRESENTED

By Tyriana Evans, @TyrianaEvans
Production Assistant, Politics
 
Joshua Barajas, @Josh_Barrage
Senior Editor, Digital
 
Election Day may have come and gone, but this midterms cycle is still making headlines.
 
Officials in a rural, Republican-controlled Arizona county have refused to certify the 2022 election results. Next year’s Congress will be one of the most evenly divided in the nation’s history. And it was a historic year for young voter turnout and LGBTQ candidates vying for office.
 
A record number of Black women also ran for office this year. And while some candidates – like Los Angeles Mayor-elect Karen Bass – made history with their wins, Black women are still underrepresented in public office.
 
In the House, Summer Lee will be the first Black woman to represent the state of Pennsylvania. In the Senate, losses in several races for both Democrats and Republicans means the chamber won’t have any Black women in the new Congress. Nor did any Black woman candidates win their gubernatorial races; the U.S. has never had a Black woman as governor.
 
Nadia Brown, the director of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program at Georgetown University, told the NewsHour that this was a significant year because “Black women continue to run for elected office, but not win all the time.” She added that Black women are a steadfast voting bloc and have long been making themselves heard in American politics, on the local and federal levels.
 
“We see this with grassroots activists. We see this with local elected officials and the federal government. But we’re not seeing them always end up in the positions that they run for,” she said. “So the big picture is that these women are the stalwarts of American democracy, but then don’t always have the payouts that we would like to see.”
 

#POLITICSTRIVIA
Joshua Barajas, @Josh_Barrage
Senior Editor, Digital
 
Only two Black women have ever served in the U.S. Senate.
 
Before she made history in her current role as vice president, Kamala Harris was the second Black woman to be elected senator and the first to represent California in the chamber.
 
Our question: Who was the first Black woman to be elected to the Senate? And which state did she represent?
 
Send your answers to [email protected] or tweet using #PoliticsTrivia. The first correct answers will earn a shout-out next week.
 
Last week, we asked: This year’s national turkeys — Chocolate and Chip — hail from North Carolina. What is the official bird of the Tarheel State, and what year was it selected?
 
The answer: The cardinal. Or, the northern cardinal. The North Carolina General Assembly selected the cardinal as the official state bird in 1943 after it received a plurality of votes. Which bird got the next highest number of votes? The dove.
 
Congratulations to our winners: Judith Feinleib and Jo Shafer!
 
Thank you all for reading and watching. We’ll drop into your inbox next week.