Congress closed out 2021 and the first session of the 117th Congress with significant legislative success over the past year. In March 2021, Congress passed a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package that provided payments to individuals, funds to state and local governments, and extended unemployment benefits. In November 2021, President Biden signed a massive infrastructure package into law, totaling over $1 trillion. In December 2021, Congress extended the debt limit beyond the 2022 midterm elections and passed the National Defense Authorization Act for the 61st consecutive year.
The second session of the 117th Congress is beginning much the same way as the first session ended — with Democrats struggling to find a path forward for President Biden’s Build Back Better Act (BBB) before the critical midterm elections. However, BBB, or some version of it, isn’t the only agenda item for Congress in the early months of 2022. Congress must address government funding by February 18 or risk a government shutdown, and House and Senate leaders plan to pass a highly anticipated U.S.-China competition bill.
Going forward, all legislative activity throughout the year will be carefully choreographed with the November midterm elections as the backdrop. Aside from the “must-pass” legislative items, such as government funding, Democrats will rush to pass policy priorities to serve as messaging tools ahead of the elections. Republicans, led by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), have decided to lean on Democrats’ failures rather than propose a slate of their own policy alternatives.
This report, written by the Troutman Pepper Strategies Washington, DC team, provides a summary of the issues that Congress and the administration could address over the course of 2022.