Following an election on November 3 that defied nearly every norm and many expectations, Democrats won unified control of the federal government after two January 6 U.S. Senate runoffs in Georgia were called in their favor.

Late December 21, both the House and Senate passed what many observers called the largest piece of legislation in American history. The 5,593-page bill, which was given to legislators just a few hours before the vote, included an omnibus appropriations bill to fund the government until October 2021, the fifth Coronavirus Relief Act, and the Water Resources Development Act of 2020, which we discussed in a previous Think Tank blog.