As the remaining days of the 116th Congress tick down, lawmakers made little progress on both full-year funding bills and another round of COVID-19 relief before adjourning for the Thanksgiving holiday. Advocates are increasingly nervous about these critical pieces of legislation.

While there will be some time in December to gain ground on outstanding legislative tasks before the end of the year, each passing day makes the task more difficult. Senate and House leadership continue to be focused on passing a full-year FY 2021 federal funding measure by the time the current bill, which extends FY 2020 funding through December 11, expires. n4a expects Congress to ultimately accomplish this before the December 11 deadline—but there's no guarantee, especially with so few legislative days and several complicated issues with the spending bills still to be resolved.
 
Unfortunately, Congress is less likely to agree to a deal on COVID-19 relief in these waning days, despite the intensifying infection rates in great swaths of the country. That's why it's critical that local advocates use n4a's November 18 Advocacy Alert to reach out to their federal lawmakers now about the importance of another round of relief legislation.