A unique view of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., July 7, 2018: Glynn Wilson

By Glynn Wilson –

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Thanksgiving turkey break time is over for members of Congress, who return to work in the Capitol this week and now have only a few weeks before the Christmas-New Years recess to find a way to fund the United States government and pass some key bills to show their constituents and the country they can govern.

Of course members on the far right who want the United States to fail as a country and a democracy are calling for the government to be shut down rather than funding the “Communist agenda” of the Democrats.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, the nut job Republican from Northwest Georgia who has no official position on any committee in Congress because of her radical views and unethical behavior, attacked the Democrats on Twitter over the weekend urging Republicans to “stand strong” against funding the government.

Dec 3rd the government runs out of money & the big push will be funding the Dems Communist agenda.

The Senate can STOP the vaccine mandates by NOT funding OSHA

The Senate can STOP the Destroy America BBB bill by NOT funding the government.

All Republicans must stand strong.

— Marjorie Taylor Greene 🇺🇸 (@mtgreenee) November 27, 2021

According to Monday morning coverage in The Washington Post, insiders are looking for “a politically discordant December on Capitol Hill at a moment when tensions between Democrats and Republicans are running high, and fears are resurfacing nationwide about a potential setback in the coronavirus pandemic.”

Uncertainty surrounding the omicron variant coming out of Africa is rattling financial markets and leading to travel restrictions like the early days of the global pandemic nearly two years ago. On a day when the Dow Jones industrial average fell by more than 900 points, President Joe Biden spoke to reporters about this on Friday, saying the administration remains “cautious” about the trajectory of the variant.

The most immediate concern for Congress is to find a way to prevent a shutdown of the federal government. A short-term continuing resolution passed in September keeping the doors open on all federal agencies is set to expire on Friday, Dec. 3.

Next, Congress has less than two weeks to avoid a second crisis to find away to continue the government’s ability to borrow money to pay its bills, which will require raising the debt ceiling again and avoid a default that could cripple the entire economy.

Is that what the tea party-Trump Republicans really want? This would not save the country or American democracy. It would put it at risk of collapsing into chaos. Maybe that’s what they want.

Then, if those two tasks are accomplished (with no help from the Republicans) then in the waning hours of the year, perhaps even working right up to Christmas and the new year, Democrats in the Senate will seek to approve a $2 trillion package to fund massive improvements in the nation’s health care system, as well as the education system, reform immigration laws and tax laws, and fund much needed programs to combat the worst effects of climate due to global warming from the burning of fossil fuels for energy.

“As you know, the legislative agenda for the remainder of 2021 is considerable,” Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, the Democrat from New York, told members in a letter before they departed for the Thanksgiving break. “I am confident we can get each of these important items done this year, but it will likely take some long nights and weekends.”

The stakes could not be higher for the Democrats, who have struggled with internal battles to enact as much of President Biden’s agenda as possible in the 10 months they have been in control of the White House, the House and the Senate, “a position of power they have not held since the very first days of 2011,” according to the Post‘s analysis.

The Democrats adopted a $1.9 trillion relief package at the height of the pandemic in March, with nothing but opposition from Republicans. They managed to pass a bipartisan $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that Biden signed into law in November. Democrats in the House voted to pass a $2 trillion bill to expand the country’s social safety net before Thanksgiving, also with no help from Republicans.

That bill must now be debated in the Senate, where it faces changes from Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, both Democrats who have been described as “centrists” or “moderate.” Paid family leave and medical leave benefits could be cut from the bill, although Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont is still pushing for the inclusion of dental coverage and other measures to help the poor and middle class.

While it may be getting lost in the discussion on the social media news feed, the economy is showing a resounding resiliency with unemployment dropping to its lowest levels since November 1969, according to figures from the U.S. Department of Labor. But that means nothing to Republicans, who are trying to blame a rise in prices and inflation on federal spending by Democrats, even as economists say it has much to do with a surge in pent-up demand after nearly two years of the pandemic.

There will most likely be a show of bipartisanship in the Senate over the next few days, as a $768 billion defense authorization bill is debated and approved. The big news will include an attempt to repeal a resolution authorizing the war in Iraq in the Bush years.

Then attention will turn to the Build Back Better Act, which Democrats have opted to advance without Republican votes through budget reconciliation to avoid a filibuster.

Senator Schumer addressed this before the Thanksgiving break, saying he hopes work on this historic, game changing legislation could be complete before Christmas.

Stay tuned. We will bring you the key news with no paywall and no popup ad.
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