Becker’s Washington Weekly: Week of December 1

Congress Closes Out 2025

Congress returns to Washington this week for the final working month of the year with no shortage of legislative must-dos before January.

This week, the House will take up legislation dealing with transparency in foreign funding and small business policy. It will also take up bills on an expedited basis concerning SBA operations, financial sector law enforcement policy, and senior and social security benefits.

However, what will certainly dominate the remaining working weeks of the year is appropriations. Last month, Congress ended the longest government shutdown in U.S. history with an appropriations package that funded most of the federal government through January 30th, while fully funding others for the current fiscal year (the Legislative Branch, the Departments of Agriculture and VA, and the FDA).

Now, lawmakers must reach an agreement on fully funding the remainder of the government, which includes the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, Transportation, HUD, HHS, etc. Currently, Congress breaks for the Holidays on December 18th and returns on January 5th, leaving few legislative working days to close out the appropriations bills. It’s also unclear whether any appropriations deal will include extensions for Affordable Care Act subsidies, which expire at the end of the year.

Lawmakers in both Chambers will also convene committee hearings this week, including the following:

• The House Small Business Committee will discuss crimes against small businesses
• The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee will discuss securing America’s communications networks
• The House Energy & Commerce Committee will discuss the security of America’s energy infrastructure
• The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will examine strategies to counter China’s AI challenge to U.S. leadership