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{"id":27476,"date":"2026-10-13T12:20:17","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T12:20:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/capitol-agenda-gop-readies-for-an-underwhelming-lame-duck\/"},"modified":"2026-10-13T12:20:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T12:20:17","slug":"capitol-agenda-gop-readies-for-an-underwhelming-lame-duck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/capitol-agenda-gop-readies-for-an-underwhelming-lame-duck\/","title":{"rendered":"Capitol agenda: GOP readies for an underwhelming lame duck"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Republicans\u2019 dreams of a productive <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/10\/13\/gop-lame-duck-reality-check-01114594\" target=\"_blank\">lame-duck session are dimming<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Members returning to Washington post-election will have a mere 24 legislative days to get through a considerable list of must-pass bills and possibly messy internal leadership fights. That\u2019s if they can overcome a potential transition of power on Capitol Hill and a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/us-consumer-sentiment-deteriorates-further-october-2026-10-09\/\" target=\"_blank\">foul national mood<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Lawmakers\u2019 must-do list includes: an extension of government funding past Dec. 11 and the annual Pentagon policy bill. Major legislation to reauthorize farm, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/live-updates\/2026\/09\/01\/congress\/johnson-surface-bill-lame-duck-issue-01059302\" target=\"_blank\">transportation and<\/a> surveillance programs are also on deck.<\/p>\n<p>Then there are pending bipartisan bills overhauling energy permitting and the college sports industry that many members are itching to get done.<\/p>\n<p>And finally, leaders had deferred some GOP priorities \u2014 such as another party-line reconciliation bill or debt-limit increase through the end of President Donald Trump\u2019s term.<\/p>\n<p>All of the measures face their own potential political minefields individually, as well as a number of obstacles across the board:<\/p>\n<p><b>\u2014 ATTENDANCE:\u00a0<\/b>There will be little incentive for lawmakers who just lost their seats \u2014 \u201cfree-range chickens,\u201d some call them \u2014 to grind out legislative wins, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/06\/03\/house-calendar-mike-johnson-00947763\" target=\"_blank\">if they come back at<\/a> all.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe question becomes: Who shows up for work after the elections?\u201d Rep. Austin Scott said in an interview. \u201cAttendance is an issue right now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><b>\u2014 NEW LEVERAGE: <\/b>If Democrats win control of either chamber, they\u2019ll likely seek greater influence on legislation to push back on Trump\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n<p>For example, Democrats are fuming over the Trump administration\u2019s recent decision to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/09\/25\/trump-declares-1b-canceled-in-pocket-rescission-in-another-affront-to-congress-funding-power-01093960\" target=\"_blank\">block roughly $1 billion<\/a> in congressionally approved funding, which could complicate any deal on spending legislation. They\u2019ve also blocked the annual Pentagon policy bill amid a standoff over the Iran war; and they may push for more concessions on the permitting deal.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe lame duck will be quite different if we win the Senate,\u201d Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/09\/30\/chuck-schumer-senate-democrats-midterms-interview-01102265\" target=\"_blank\">recent interview<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><b>\u2014 GOP DISPUTES:<\/b> While some Republicans believe that losing a chamber would jump-start the reconciliation process, others privately believe the exact opposite would happen, with incentives waning for exiting lawmakers, according to three GOP aides granted anonymity to speak candidly.<\/p>\n<p>Other GOP senators, like Sen. Cynthia Lummis, are skeptical of a debt-limit increase.<\/p>\n<p>A Democratic flip of the House could also spark a potentially chaotic cascade of GOP leadership elections (more on that below).<\/p>\n<p>Sen. John Kennedy speculated Congress\u2019 agenda would all come down to the vibes of the GOP conference when they returned.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou have no idea what the mood is going to be,\u201d Kennedy said.<\/p>\n<p><b><i>What else we\u2019re watching:\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>\u2014 JOHNSON SCRAMBLES LEADERSHIP OUTLOOK: \u00a0<\/b>Republicans are reassessing the dynamics of potential leadership races after Speaker Mike Johnson\u2018s <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/CBSNews\/status\/2109569767442948331?s=46\" target=\"_blank\">comments Monday<\/a> that he would run for minority leader if the GOP loses the House \u2014 just days after he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/live-updates\/2026\/10\/08\/congress\/mike-johnson-2028-congress-speaker-01111565\" target=\"_blank\">floated leaving<\/a> Congress altogether in that scenario. Many Republicans had predicted Johnson would step aside with a House flip, likely setting off a race between Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan for the top GOP spot. If Johnson stays put, his success may depend on the severity of the party\u2019s loss and if Trump weighs in for a certain candidate. \u201cI hope he\u2019s smarter than that,\u201d one House Republican said of Johnson\u2019s consideration of the minority leader role. \u201cIt would end very badly and cause unnecessary damage to the conference.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><b>\u2014 DEMS GEAR UP ON TRADE OVERSIGHT \u2014\u00a0<\/b>Democrats on the House Ways and Means, Senate Finance and other panels say Trump\u2019s trade deals were corrupt, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/10\/13\/trump-trade-tariffs-democrats-congress-01115289\" target=\"_blank\">they\u2019re already lining up targets to probe<\/a>. The party knows it can\u2019t repeal Trump\u2019s tariffs as long as he\u2019s in the White House, but if they win control of Congress, they plan to haul in top administration officials and possibly executives to explain how Trump picked his targets in his trade war \u2014 and if others got a pass through suspected quid pro quos.<\/p>\n<p><i>Jordain Carney, Daniel Desrochers and Oliver Ward contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Republicans\u2019 dreams of a productive lame-duck session are dimming. Members returning to Washington post-election will have a mere 24 legislative days to get through a considerable list of must-pass bills and possibly messy internal leadership fights. That\u2019s if they can overcome a potential transition of power on Capitol Hill and a foul national mood. Lawmakers\u2019 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27476\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}