The Senate is only scheduled to be in three weeks for the rest of 2021, with a recess set to start Dec. 10. There’s almost no chance that schedule holds at this point, with the Democratic majority facing a to-do list more daunting than a Black Friday sales rush. Congress has to fund the government past Dec. 3, pass a massive defense policy bill, finish out a $1.75 trillion party-line social spending bill and potentially maneuver around a U.S. credit default.

Each of those four bills could take several days of Senate floor time, not to mention the myriad negotiations still left to hash out Biden’s GOP-free domestic agenda with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who wants to slow things down. Already some senators are anticipating a short-term government funding patch for a few weeks, potentially right up until Christmas. And in a worst-case scenario, the debt limit would need to be raised right around that same time — something Republicans say they won’t help with…

One idea under consideration to wind up the year is folding a stalled U.S.-China competitiveness bill, which focuses on reviving the domestic computer chip manufacturing industry, into the defense policy bill. That competitiveness legislation passed the Senate earlier this year but has stalled in the House — putting it in the defense bill would ensure it gets done, and quickly.

“It’s all achievable,” said Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii). “We have a reasonable pathway to enact Build Back Better. We will do the defense bill. I think we will enact at least part of or most of [the competitiveness bill] in the defense bill. And then the open question is [appropriations].”