Scott Simon

And House lawmakers may vote to release the government's Epstein files as soon as this coming week, where the story goes from there in this podcast.

So please stay with us.

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You ever get to the pharmacy and you're expecting your medication to cost 20 bucks, but instead it's 200 or 1,000?

This week on the Life Kit podcast, what to do when your prescription costs way more than you expected.

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First up, a reopened federal government after a Capitol Hill showdown resulting in a 43-day shutdown.

Central to that showdown were the expiring health care subsidies causing sticker shock to Affordable Care Act enrollees across the country.

But the deal that ended the shutdown didn't address those subsidies.

And Congress is staring down that impasse and more divisive issues, including the Epstein files.

NPR congressional correspondent Deirdre Walsh joins us.

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.