On Wednesday, Republicans won their 218th seat in the Congress, flipping control of the House of Representatives even with several races still uncalled. Then on Thursday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced her plans to step down as House Speaker after leading Democrats for two decades, though she will still remain in Congress as a Representative from California.

House Republicans nominated current Minority leader Kevin McCarthy to become the new speaker, pending a vote on the House floor in January. President Joe Biden now has a clearer picture of the legislative landscape for the remaining two years of his first term. But before the 118th Congress takes its seats just after the New Year, there is still a narrow window for some legislative action by the 117th.  

The remainder of 2022 — this period between an election and the installment of successors is known as a lame-duck session — and this could be the last chance for Democrats to use their majority in both chambers of Congress to pass legislation. 

In fact, they’ve already started that work. 

On Wednesday, the Senate voted to advance a bipartisan same-sex marriage bill, which would protect marriage equality under federal law. Congress also just passed a federal cannabis bill designed to expand medical marijuana research to be signed into law.And lawmakers need to pass a budget to avoid a looming government shutdown by December 16th.

So what else is on the agenda for this lame-duck session? Potential immigration reform, expansion of Child Tax Credits, and more. We spoke with Dorian Warren co-president of Community Change, co-chair of the Economic Security Project, and my co-host for Takeaway Deep Dives, and Bruna Sollad, Senior communications and Political Director of United We Dream, the largest non-profit immigrant youth-led community in the country fighting for immigration reform.