Republicans have less than 60 days before Democrats take control of Congress — and the House Freedom Caucus just told GOP leaders there is no excuse for wasting a single one.
The conservative group delivered an eight-part lame-duck agenda to House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Monday, demanding action on voter ID, President Trump’s border policies, energy permitting, federal spending, congressional stock trading and the president’s remaining nominees.
The centerpiece is a new reconciliation package with at least $1 trillion in spending reductions.
🚨BREAKING: House Freedom Caucus leadership just dropped a lame-duck roadmap for @SpeakerJohnson and @LeaderJohnThune.
Strip Democrat leverage. Deliver real wins. Do it before the clock runs out.
No leaving town until it’s done — let’s finish the job!
— House Freedom Caucus (@freedomcaucus) November 9, 2026
The Freedom Caucus roadmap calls on Republicans to use the budget-reconciliation process for another major bill before their unified control ends on January 3.
The plan would expand health savings accounts and preserve access to lower-cost short-term health plans. It would also require voter ID in federal elections, codify President Trump’s border-security policies, ban sanctuary cities and advance energy and infrastructure permitting reform.
The caucus wants Congress to freeze federal spending for a third consecutive year, reject a massive year-end omnibus and cut at least $1 trillion — enough, the members argue, to cover the package and make real progress against the deficit.
That is an ambitious list. It is also a direct indictment of the squandered time that brought Republicans to this point.
They had the House and the Senate. They had the White House.
Voters gave them a narrow window to turn campaign promises into law, and now that window is closing fast.
NEW: Rep. Roy and @freedomcaucus colleagues lay out what Republicans MUST accomplish during the next 60 days of the lame-duck session:
PASS a reconciliation bill that cuts spending.
CODIFY President Trump’s border policies.
DELIVER permitting reform.
BAN congressional stock trading.
SECURE our elections.
AND MORE.
The agenda is clear. The promises were made.
NOW IT’S TIME TO DELIVER. DO WHAT WE SAID WE WOULD DO.
— Rep. Chip Roy Press Office (@RepChipRoy) November 9, 2026
The letter also urges the Senate to confirm as many of President Trump’s judicial and executive nominees as possible before Democrats inherit the majority.
Democrats confirmed 22 of Joe Biden’s judicial nominees during the 2024 lame-duck session. Republicans now face the same ticking clock.
A December 11 government-funding deadline and a defense bill still waiting for action make the calendar even tighter.
Axios reports that Republicans return to Washington with only weeks left before their control of both chambers ends on January 3. Democrats have little incentive to help the outgoing majority lock in conservative priorities before taking the gavels themselves.
Departing lawmakers can complicate the sprint by skipping votes or breaking with leadership. The annual defense bill is already tangled in disputes over the Iran war and military aid to Israel, while the December funding deadline raises the threat of another shutdown.
Senate Republicans are also racing to confirm President Trump’s remaining judicial and executive nominees. Every one of those fights will compete for the same shrinking number of floor days, and a single delay can consume time the majority cannot recover.
That is why the Freedom Caucus’s final demand may be the most important: stay in Washington until the work is done.
No early holiday escape. No ceremonial votes designed to fail.
And no 2,000-page omnibus dumped on members at the last minute.
🚨 BREAKING: Speaker Johnson and Leader Thune were just sent a JAM-PACKED America First lame duck agenda, and now face mass demands to get ALL of it done before Dems assume power in 60 days
This would throw MAJOR cold water on their new majorities! 🔥
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) November 9, 2026
The Federalist’s account of the letter notes that the caucus is asking leadership to turn the border agenda into statute, not leave it resting on executive actions that a future administration could reverse.
The distinction matters because executive orders can buy time, while laws create durable victories.
A voter-ID requirement, a sanctuary-city ban and permanent border authorities would force the next Congress to confront policies already written into federal law.
The stock-trading ban is another test. Members of both parties have spent years promising to end the spectacle of lawmakers trading individual stocks while receiving privileged briefings and writing the rules that move markets. The proposal has broad public support, yet Congress keeps finding a reason to delay it.
Republicans cannot undo the midterm results. They can decide what voters remember about their final weeks in power.
The Freedom Caucus has handed Johnson and Thune a clear list: cut spending and secure elections.
Lock in the border, unleash American energy, confirm President Trump’s team and ban lawmakers from trading stocks.
There is still time to deliver — but there is no time left to waste.
This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.
