This week in the U.S. House of Representatives: Dec. 7 – Dec. 11

The countdown is one — Congress has only a few days left to avert another government shutdown.

Lawmakers have until Friday, December 11 to pass a massive, catchall spending bill called an omnibus that will fund the federal government until after the presidential election. Negotiators are aiming to release the text of the massive legislation on Monday.

On Monday and Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives is in session and will consider two bills under suspension of the rules. Among those bills is:

H.R. 158: the Visa Waiver Program Improvement Act, which prohibits individuals who have been to specified nations such as Syria and Iraq from entering the United States unless they are interviewed by U.S. officials and get a regular visa, even if they are from countries that participate in the Visa Waiver Program (which allows citizens from 38 countries to travel to the U.S. without a visa).

• Alabama co-sponsors: Rep. Bradley Byrne (AL-01); Rep. Robert Aderholt (AL-04)

On the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives the remainder of the week:

H.R. 2130: Red River Private Property Protection Act. The bill requires the Bureau of Land Management to sell roughly 30,000 acres of federal land along the Red River, which forms part of the border between Texas and Oklahoma, with current and adjacent property owners to have right of first refusal to purchase the land.

• Alabama co-sponsors: None

FY16 Omnibus. The House may consider an omnibus appropriations legislation comprising all 12 regular appropriations bills that would fund the entire government for the remainder of FY 2016. Current funding expires on Friday, Dec. 11.

Conference agreement on H.R. 644: a trade enforcement measure that passed each chamber earlier this year during consideration of other trade legislation, including the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), that were eventually signed into law. H.R. 644 includes numerous provisions to facilitate trade and strengthen enforcement of U.S. trade laws, including U.S. intellectual property rights and anti-dumping and countervailing duty laws.

Tax Extenders. House and Senate negotiators are reportedly close to reaching agreement on extending or retroactively renewing dozens of business and other tax provisions that are scheduled to soon expire or that expired at the end of 2014.

Reconciliation. The House may consider the Senate amendment to H.R. 3762, the House-passed reconciliation measure that would repeal major portions of the Obamacare. As originally passed by the House in October, the measure repealed Obamacare’s individual and employer mandates, the medical device tax, the “Cadillac” tax on high-value employer health care plans, and the Prevention and Public Health Fund. It also defunded Planned Parenthood for one year.

Last week, the Senate passed an amended version, by a 52-47 vote, which added provisions to limit the law’s expansion of Medicaid and repeal the tax subsidies for purchasing insurance on the state exchanges, as well as several other taxes under the law.