By Associated Press, Herald Tribune.

A look at Congress' to-do list for the lame-duck session that begins Nov. 14 and for 2017, when a new Congress will convene and a new president will take office.

LAME DUCK

-Government spending

A continuing resolution signed into law Thursday by President Barack Obama extends government funding through Dec. 9, forcing Congress to act by then or face a government shutdown. Only one of the 12 annual appropriations bills for the 2016 fiscal year has been completed.

-Flint water crisis.

Advocates for helping Flint, Michigan, address its lead-tainted water crisis have won $220 million in a Senate-passed water projects bill and less in the House version. GOP leaders, facing a logjam on this week's stopgap spending bill, have offered concrete assurances that lawmakers will take care of Flint.