With the November elections looming, the House and Senate completed their work last week before departing Washington to campaign, leaving any remaining legislative work for the post-election lame duck session. The brief work period that followed the annual “August recess” did see passage of a Fiscal Year 2015 (FY15) Continuing Resolution (CR), funding the federal government through December 11, 2014 at existing levels.

The CR – H. Res. 124 – includes funding for a U.S. response to the Ebola outbreak in Africa, authorizes support for Syrian rebels in fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), and provides funding to counter regional aggression toward Ukraine. The CR also extends the authorization for the Export-Import Bank of the United States through June 30, 2015, and extends the Internet Tax Freedom Act through December 11, 2014.