There are only 17 days total, including weekends, for Congress to pass any sort of legislation. Of those 17 days the House is scheduled to be in session for just 12 before leaving until 2026. Prior to the government shutdown it was even less with 10 days scheduled in December and it being highly highly likely that the last week we were scheduled to be in session the House would end up canceling votes. Since I have been here no matter who is in charge the last week of December, right before Christmas, is almost always cancelled because the weather in DC is terrible and people just want to go home for the holidays. This year though we actually added a day, the 19th, as an in session day due to the shutdown practically ensuring that the House will stay in session now the first three weeks of December. 

It might sound like a lot of time but the fact of the matter is.... it isn't. There was a ton of hope this year on getting substantial legislation passed through in the first year and while yes there were some huge wins for the Republicans in the OBBB and the Genius Act a lot more was left to be desired. A prime example of this is the crypto regulation structure bill that the House passed out on a bipartisan basis but the Senate has been crafting their own version for months now. Others like permitting reform were going to take much more time and were going to be issues that we would start working on in the first year and hopefully finish up in the second. Now you even have things like AI that are moving at a much more rapid pace than government rules and regulations can keep up. Yes, States can act much more quickly because of the more limited views than ya know the entire United States but ending up with patchwork regulation is a way to kill an industry. 

For the next few weeks I see only one big bill getting passed by both the House and the Senate.... the National Defense Authorization Act or NDAA. It has already lapsed by a few months and there are current bicameral negotiations going on to hopefully get it introduced and passed by both either late this week or early next. There could be and it would likely be a very very very very small possibility that the Senate passes through their crypto regulation bill and the House is able to vote on it. However, it is much more likely that it will end up like the NDAA and both chambers pass their own versions and then they negotiate and a final version is passed in the first quarter of next year. 

Once we come back on January 2nd it will begin a dash towards avoiding another government shutdown granted this one would only be a partial one but still it would be another. It was reported that the top line for the 5 remaining bills was agreed to and that in itself is huge. If we can get these done in January then that opens up February for important legislation to pass. 

As for now.... buckle in for a 17 day sprint that will result in.... I dont know what!