Scott Simon

Deirdre, thanks so much for being with us.

Thanks, Scott.

House came in and voted for one day after they'd been gone for more than 50.

But Speaker Mike Johnson says they're coming back full force.

What does that mean?

Well, the speaker says there are going to be long days and long nights ahead.

The big thing they have to deal with is the rest of the spending bills to fund federal agencies.

Since the bill the president signed this week was just a stopgap measure, Congress faces another deadline at the end of January to fund federal agencies, or we could be looking at another shutdown.

So Congress hasn't shown an ability to pass many year-long funding bills, so we could see another stopgap bill at the end of January.

Of course, Republicans promised to vote on health care by mid-December.

What exactly are they going to vote on?

Well, it's worth noting that Senate Republicans promised this vote.

There were some informal bipartisan talks in the Senate during the shutdown about how to deal with these Affordable Care Act tax credits that are expiring at the end of this year.

One framework this Senate group is talking about would potentially extend these credits for one year and then phase in some reforms, maybe limit who's eligible for the tax credits, put in some provisions to crack down on waste, fraud and abuse.

I talked to New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen earlier this week.

She is a Democrat who's helping lead these negotiations.

She wants a bipartisan bill the president will sign.

She says she supports some of the changes that Republicans want in these tax credits.

For example, a cap on income and who can benefit from the premium tax credits.

I mean, that's legitimate.