Congress returns to brutal lame-duck stretch with shutdown deadline, leadership races: ‘Closet is full of s—’

Lawmakers are back on Capitol Hill this week for the first time since the midterm elections, and Republicans have a slew of responsibilities in front of them before Democrats take over the reins of power in January.

“The lame duck is like that closet in your house where everybody’s throwing a bunch of s— into it,” Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, told Fox News Digital. “And the closet is full of s— now, and now we got to figure out how to get it all out of there.”

Current federal funding levels run out on Dec. 11, and without another deal in place, Congress risks plunging the government into another shutdown. Some Democrats signaled to POLITICO that they could use President Donald Trump’s war in Iran as leverage in spending talks — which could very well lead to a fiscal cliff that could paralyze federal agencies.

But one House Republican, granted anonymity to speak candidly, told Fox News Digital they expect another short-term extension of current funding levels, called a continuing resolution (CR), through February or March of next year. The current CR was passed to cover the end of the last fiscal year ending Sept. 30 through next month.

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“No one wants a shutdown, I would think,” that House Republican said. “Not even Dems.”

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Other legislative priorities Congress will have to reckon with in the next few weeks include the farm bill, which is passed every five years and sets food and agriculture policy for the country. Republicans are also aiming to pass a bill to revitalize the country’s transportation infrastructure and a bipartisan tax package before the end of the year.

Then there is also the looming debt ceiling deadline coming in January, which Trump will likely call on Republicans to deal with before Congress changes hands.

GOP lawmakers shared varying levels of optimism when asked about how productive they would be.

“It can be. It should be,” Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., said. “But my faith in some of my Senate colleagues is not real high, because I feel like they have a personal vendetta towards the president, and it’s more about that than it is about passing legislation. We should do our business in Congress.”

Rep. Nathaniel Moran, R-Texas, said, “I think it’s gonna be difficult to get a whole lot done. But we have done a lot of work leading up to the lame-duck session to prepare for passing a number of important bills, many of which are bipartisan.”

But first, both House and Senate Republicans will need to face their losses in person — and consider how to rebuild.

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“It’s going to feel like a funeral,” Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., told Fox News Digital. “It’s depressing even for those of us who won, because we lost so many good, quality members.”

The first order of business this week will be choosing their new leaders for the next Congress.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., is running for the minority leader role unopposed for now.

And House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., is vying for the minority leader role against House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.

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But Moran and Stutzman both said Republicans would unify quickly after that drama is resolved.

“It should be immediate,” Stutzman said. “If we’re not paying attention to the American people, and we’re focusing on leadership positions and personality fights, we’re gonna continue to lose.”

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Moran said, “We understand now more than ever how important it is for us to come back together, coalesce and to regroup for the next election, and to prepare for the defense of democracy.”

On Democrats’ side, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., is expected to glide into the speaker role after leading his party to a commanding victory.

Democrats’ leadership elections will take place the week after Republicans’ do.

And on the productivity front, Stutzman also called on the Senate to pass the election security-focused SAVE America Act, which Republicans are attempting to accomplish via the budget reconciliation process to sidestep the need for Democrat support. The House passed a blueprint for the bill in July.

Senate Budget Committee Chair Ron Johnson, R-Wis., has been working on the structure of that package for some time, but wasn’t so sure that if Republicans lost, it would be something the GOP had the political will to finish.

“It might turn to some people’s attitudes in terms of support for it,” Johnson said.

Then there’s permitting reform, which was on thin ice heading into Election Night until the White House and Senate Democrats struck a deal for a variety of wind projects to move forward. Whether Democrats support that now, and give Trump and the GOP a win on their way out, remains to be seen.

“First thing we need to do is make a motion to add a 13th month to the calendar, because we’ve got so much stacked up to do that’s really important for the country,” Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., told Fox News Digital.