With the House and Senate in recess this week for the Thanksgiving holiday, there are now only a very limited number of scheduled legislative days left for the year – 12 in the House and 15 in the Senate – and there is increasing talk that both chambers will leave for the holidays by Friday, December 11th, which would mean even fewer days. This is an incredibly tight calendar with a number of large measures awaiting action, but there are signs that this Congress is starting to work more smoothly and can rise to the occasion, although in the current political environment nothing is certain.

Do recent developments signal continued legislative successes in December? -

Federal activities are currently funded through a Continuing Resolution (CR) that lasts until December 11th, and Congress in late October approved a two-year budget agreement, the Bipartisan Budget Act, that raises both domestic and defense spending levels, while also suspending the debt limit until 2017, meaning that these issues will not arise again during the Obama presidency. However, this leaves a final resolution of Fiscal Year 2016 appropriations for the coming weeks.