Haven't We Seen This Movie Before? (Beltway Buzz, December 4, 2020)

Haven't We Seen This Movie Before? Following the Thanksgiving break, federal legislators have been back in Washington, D.C., this week as the 116th United States Congress-which will likely end on January 3, 2021-sprints toward the finish. Tops on the congressional to-do list is avoiding a government shutdown, which will happen on December 12, 2020, if Congress does not act. (Incidentally, the 35-day record-breaking federal government shutdown that took place between December 2018 and January 2019 began right around this time two years ago-on December 22, 2018.) Of course, with COVID-19 cases spiking and the expiration of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act's unemployment provisions looming, there is yet another push for further economic relief from Congress. Here is how that effort is shaping up.