Congress returns to Washington after the "blue wave." What's on the docket?

Members of Congress are back in Washington this week for their final session before Democrats take over in January. They have a lot on their plates, including preventing a government shutdown.

Congress needs to pass a stopgap bill to keep the government going before Dec. 11, when the current funding patch runs out. Henrietta Treyz, co-Founder and director of economic policy at Veda Partners, thinks it’ll get some support from Democrats.

“And that’s because they want to hit the ground running, get their new members sworn in on Jan. 3,” she said.

Treyz doesn’t expect Democratic support for other Republican priorities, though, like funding the war in the Middle East. For that, the GOP might try to pass another big tax and spending bill under special rules that allow legislation to be approved without votes from the other party.

But Treyz said not to hold your breath. “Despite this being a pretty must-pass piece of legislation, my odds are only 30%.”

Treyz added that the odds are better for the National Defense Authorization Act. The NDAA, as it’s known, sets policy and funding levels for the Pentagon for things like how much troops are paid.

Todd Harrison, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said that this year’s NDAA also covers right-to-repair rules for the Defense Department.

“Design rights and intellectual property for the weapons systems that it pays industry to build,” the Pentagon would like to be able to repair those systems itself, Harrison said.

He added that the NDAA has a roughly 50% chance of passing Congress this year.