Congress returned Tuesday, November 13th, for the lame duck session with leadership elections planned for both chambers of the House in the upcoming weeks. Twelve session days are left before the current stopgap spending bill expires for research agencies such as NSF, NOAA, NASA, NIST, USDA, USDOT, and DHS.

President Trump's demand for $20 billion for the boarder wall may bring about a government shutdown. The current House Homeland Security bill provides $5 billion for "technology and physical barriers.” The Senate bill would provide $1.6 billion for “pedestrian fencing.” There is certainly a chance that another stop gap spending bill will be needed to carry the agencies beyond the current December 7 deadline.