Congress returns Nov. 9 with five weeks to fund the government, renew FISA and finish the defense bill

By Nora Pembrook

WASHINGTON — Congress has been gone for six weeks, and it will come back after the Nov. 3 election to a short calendar and a long list: government funding that runs out Dec. 11, an expired surveillance law, an unfinished defense bill and a bipartisan permitting deal that is first in line for a vote.

Both chambers are holding only pro forma sessions this week. The House meets at 12:30 p.m. Monday in a brief session with no business, according to the House Press Gallery, which says the next votes are expected Monday, Nov. 9. The Senate is scheduled to gavel in and out at 5:30 p.m. Monday, with further pro forma sessions Oct. 29, Nov. 2 and Nov. 5, under a schedule posted when the chamber left on Sept. 30.

The House cast its last recorded votes on Sept. 16. The Senate held its final pre-election vote on the night of Sept. 30, the Washington Examiner reported.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., previewed what the Examiner called a “jam-packed agenda” for the lame-duck session, with must-pass items including government funding, a renewal of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and the annual National Defense Authorization Act. The 119th Congress ends when the 120th convenes on Jan. 3, 2027.

First vote: permitting

The Senate’s first scheduled business is a roll call at about 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 9 on whether to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 2347, Calendar No. 453, according to the posted schedule. The bill, listed under the title Survivor Justice Tax Prevention Act, passed the House by voice vote on April 27, and the cloture motion was filed Sept. 30.

The Examiner reported that the Senate “teed up a Nov. 9 vote to advance a long-awaited bipartisan permitting deal” to speed energy projects and require cost protections for utility customers against rising electricity prices from data centers. Using an unrelated House-passed bill as the vehicle for a Senate package is a common procedural step. The Inquisitor has reported on the lobbying around the deal. Cloture needs 60 votes.

Funding runs through Dec. 11

The government is operating under the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2027, which President Donald Trump signed on Sept. 2 as Public Law 119-103. The stopgap carries fiscal 2026 funding levels forward and expires Dec. 11. Without further action by then, a shutdown would begin.

Whether lawmakers pass full-year fiscal 2027 bills or another short-term measure “is likely to hinge on the election results,” the Examiner reported. From the Nov. 9 return to the Dec. 11 deadline is about five weeks.

The defense bill

The House passed its version of the fiscal 2027 NDAA, H.R. 8800, 216-212 on July 22 (Roll Call 278), and the bill was received in the Senate on Sept. 14. The Senate Armed Services Committee’s bill, S. 4784, has not reached the floor: a cloture motion on proceeding to it fell short, 50-46, on July 14. Thune entered a motion to reconsider that vote, which keeps the option of another try open.

Election-year defense bills have recently been finished late. The fiscal 2023 NDAA was signed on Dec. 23, 2022, and the fiscal 2025 NDAA on Dec. 23, 2024.

Surveillance law

Section 702 of FISA, which lets intelligence agencies collect the communications of foreigners abroad without an individual warrant, expired on June 12. Collection continues under yearlong certifications the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court approved on March 17, which remain valid until March 17, 2027, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.

The Trump administration has said the program could go fully dark on Nov. 20 because of court review procedures, the Examiner reported, which would make renewal an early lame-duck priority. The Brennan Center, which wants a warrant requirement for searches of Americans’ communications, disputes that timeline. It argues that filing a final application for new certifications before March 17 would extend the current ones automatically while the court reviews them.

Hannah James, counsel in the Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Program, said in an email Monday that Republican leadership in Congress “has not allowed any votes on reforms to Section 702” this year and has instead “advanced legislation with provisions that are designed to look like reform, but in fact preserve the status quo regarding warrantless access to Americans’ communications”.

“There is currently no indication that Republican leadership plans to change its approach before the end of the year,” she said, adding that Republican leaders have signaled they won’t allow a vote on a warrant requirement and that “we’re much more likely to see Members stuck voting on reauthorization without reforms as part of an end-of-year legislative vehicle like the NDAA”.

Reconciliation and the debt limit

Thune also listed a third party-line budget reconciliation bill among “potential options,” the Examiner reported. The House passed a $95 billion blueprint this summer for a package centered on funding for the military and the Iran war, farm relief and election security. Raising the debt ceiling is also on the list; the Examiner reported that the borrowing limit could be reached as soon as early 2027.

Thune was cautious about the reconciliation votes. “Do we have 50 [votes] to do something?” he said, according to the Examiner. “Do we have 50 to protect it once we’re on? And that’s not something I’ve seen yet.”

The margins

Republicans hold the House 218-214, with one independent and two vacancies, according to the House Press Gallery. Which party controls each chamber next year will shape how much of the list gets done in December and how much is left for the 120th Congress.

The Inquisitor contacted the offices of Thune, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Speaker Mike Johnson, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and the House and Senate Armed Services committees for comment on lame-duck plans.

Update, Oct. 26, 2026: This story has been updated with comment from the Brennan Center for Justice.