Social Security and Medicare are less than seven years from bankruptcy. Republicans still hold both chambers of Congress. Both of those facts have the same expiration date.
John Solomon at Just The News published the lame-duck roadmap on November 9, and it reads less like political analysis and more like a countdown clock with a to-do list attached. The window between now and January is narrow, the presidential veto pen still works, and the GOP majority that survived the midterms — barely — can still pass legislation that incoming Democrat majorities will spend the next two years trying to undo.
The centerpiece is reconciliation. Since 1980, 23 reconciliation bills have been enacted into law, with another four passed by Congress but vetoed by the president. The mechanism exists for exactly this kind of moment — budget-related legislation that bypasses the filibuster and needs only a simple majority. Trump has one. For now.
The spending proposals alone would reshape the federal footprint. Solomon outlines a 5 percent mandatory budget cut across federal agencies, with a more aggressive option of 15 percent across-the-board agency spending reductions phased over two years. The targets are specific: elimination of USAID, reduction of the Education Department under Secretary Linda McMahon, and a structural overhaul of how court settlement money gets distributed — closing the pipeline that has funneled taxpayer-funded legal settlements to activist nonprofits for decades.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin both figure into the execution side. Bessent's department would manage the fiscal mechanics of reconciliation. Zeldin's EPA is already a target for the kind of regulatory rollbacks that can be locked in through legislation rather than executive orders — which the next administration could reverse with a pen stroke.
Then there's the Electoral College. The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact — an end-run by blue states to effectively nullify the Electoral College without amending the Constitution — has been gaining signatories for years. Solomon's piece flags the lame-duck session as the window to pass federal protections for the Electoral College system, along with voter ID requirements and citizenship verification checks. Vice President JD Vance, who presides over the Senate, could play a tiebreaking role if any of these measures come to a floor vote.
The nonprofit loophole gets its own section. Under the proposal, tax-exempt organizations would have until 2027 to demonstrate they're serving actual charitable purposes. Those that can't would lose their tax-exempt status by October 1, 2028. That's a direct shot at the universe of dark-money groups that operate as political arms while claiming 501(c)(3) protection.
Attorney General Todd Blanche rounds out the enforcement side. The DOJ under Blanche has already signaled willingness to pursue cases that previous administrations wouldn't touch — and the lame-duck window gives Congress the chance to confirm remaining judicial nominees and lock in the legal infrastructure before Democrats take the gavel.
The argument from the left will be predictable: ramming legislation through a lame-duck session is undemocratic. This from the party whose signature legislative achievement — the Affordable Care Act — was passed using reconciliation after Scott Brown's special election win in Massachusetts explicitly to avoid a Republican filibuster. The tool is only undemocratic when Republicans use it.
Solomon frames the broader strategy around a single question: does the GOP use these two months, or does it hand the keys to a Democrat majority that has already promised to defund Trump's agenda? The Homeland Security budget passed over the summer. Social Security solvency could be extended to 2045 under the reconciliation proposals. The 2028 presidential cycle — with names like Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and Texas Senator Ted Cruz already circulating — will be shaped by what this Congress does or doesn't finish.
Twenty-three reconciliation bills since 1980. The twenty-fourth is sitting on the runway with both engines running.
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