Scores of coveted committee seats and unfinished projects will open up in the next year as over 30 lawmakers exit the House, prompting a scramble for sought-after spots in the next Congress.

Ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s decision to exit the House by year’s end injects new layers of intrigue about his plans to dispense of his considerable political money, his next career move, and the future of his aides.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has sent a top-line government-funding offer to the Senate and is awaiting a response, Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.), told reporters yesterday after the speaker discussed the matter with a group of House Republicans.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has been invited to speak to senators at a classified briefing today as aid to his country remains snarled in a partisan dispute over border security, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced late yesterday.

Shalanda Young, President Joe Biden’s budget director, is warning Congress that the US will run out of resources to assist Ukraine by the end of the calendar year, as the White House looks to ratchet up pressure on lawmakers to pass an emergency funding package.

Republican senators are trying to curtail how the Biden administration uses immigration “parole” to release border-crossers into the country, while sidestepping debate over parole granted to Ukrainians, Venezuelans, and other vulnerable communities, two key negotiators said.

Ultra-conservatives in the House softened their demands for deep spending cuts to domestic programs, heightening the odds the two parties can reach a spending agreement and avert a Jan. 20 partial government shutdown.

Congressional negotiators are poised to abandon plans to use the annual National Defense Authorization Act to tighten controls on investment in Chinese technology.

Negotiators of the annual defense authorization bill are running into a potential roadblock: the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services panel refuses to back the transfer of attack submarines to Australia under a trilateral security pact until Congress approves $3.4 billion in emergency funding for the American submarine industrial base.

New aid for Ukraine and Israel will be difficult to pass before the end of the year while Congress remains at odds over proposed changes to securing the southern border, House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner said.