The President Joe Biden has signed Friday’s short-term government funding bill, ending one major crisis. Congress now turns their attention to two big-ticket issues.

Biden’s signature stops the government from being shut down hours before Friday’s deadline. The measure — which the House and Senate passed Thursday — will keep the government running through Feb. 18.

After the danger of an unplanned funding lapse has been quashed lawmakers will proceed to the next step in the daunting December to-do lists. A Democratic-led Congress will now attempt to stop a possible default on U.S. government debt. They will also pass Biden’s $1.75 billion Build Back Better Act, and vote for an annual defense budget bill.

Janet Yellen is the Treasury Secretary and expects the U.S. to be successful. will hit its debt ceiling on Dec. 15If lawmakers don’t raise or suspend this limit, it will be suspended. Republicans say they won’t vote for raising the U.S. borrowing cap, however Senator Minority Leader Mitch McConnell indicated that he might not stop Democrats from acting on their own.

Republicans argue that Democrats must raise the debt limit alone to allow them to pass their massive social spending bill. Yellen pointed out that Congress would need to raise the limit no matter what law Democrats have passed in this year. New spending cannot be authorized by raising or suspending debt ceiling.

Democrats work to minimize the chance of default and push Biden’s domestic top priority through the Senate. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer wants to pass the Build Back Better Act — which would invest in child care, household tax credits, Medicare, Medicaid and green energy — by Christmas.

He is still waiting for word from Senator parliamentarian on whether or not the plan conforms to the budget process which will permit Democrats to adopt it independently. Schumer must also win the support of Democratic Senators. Joe Manchin from West Virginia, and Kyrsten Sinema in Arizona have yet to sign off on this bill.

The House passed its version of the plan last month. Most likely, the Senate will make some changes. This would mean that the House would need to vote again.

With the massive social-spending plan, the Senate is a flurry of activity. The Senate is working to pass the National Defense Authorization Act every year. This law sets spending levels for all defense programs.

In the Senate, legislation is stuck because of an impasse about a set of proposed amendments.

Biden’s signing of the spending bill does not stop the possibility that there will be a shutdown. Democrats are working to draft full-year spending bills that both the House and Senate can approve before February 18th.

Republicans still prefer longer-term resolutions which secure Trump-era funding levels that are more in line with GOP priorities.

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