Spending bills and legislation to boost advances in medicine appear to be among the few consensus items Congress will try to work on when lawmakers return after the Nov. 8 election.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis. both agreed lawmakers should try group together fiscal 2017 spending bills into packages they can pass as “minibuses,” rather than taking up one big “omnibus” spending bill.

Recommended Stories

Senate passes bill to avoid partial shutdown

Congress reaches deal on spending and tax cuts

Senate GOP at war with itself over criminal justice bill