Still smarting
from the partisan wars of 2007, Congress confronts a
sinking economy, a lingering war and election-year politics
as it gets back to work for the 2008 session.
The
Democratic-led House reconvenes Tuesday with the familiar
scenario of having to deal with a President Bush veto.
The White House objected to one provision in a massive
defense bill that opened the way for lawsuits against
the Iraqi government.
The defense bill
contains an additional pay raise for the military and
Congress is expected to quickly fix the problem, either with
a veto override vote -- that would probably fail -- or
by removing the offending provision.
House Democrats
are planning a vote the following week on overriding
Bush's second veto of legislation to expand the federal
child health insurance program. The bill passed by a
veto-proof margin in the Senate but enough Republicans
in the House have stuck with Bush to stop an override
there.
Such legislative
exercises had numerous precedents in 2007, when
presidential vetoes -- or veto threats -- and Republican
filibusters in the Senate blocked Democratic-proposed
legislation or forced major changes.
Democrats claimed
several successes in their first year in power,
including raising the minimum wage, boosting fuel mileage
standards for cars and small trucks, increasing
security at seaports and airports, reducing student
loan interest rates, and requiring stricter mental
health checks for gun purchases.
But the constant
battles over domestic spending and the Democrats' futile
efforts to curtail U.S. military involvement in Iraq drove
public approval ratings of Congress to new lows.
''We share the
frustration of the American people and the desire to bring
about change,'' Senate majority leader Harry Reid said,
stressing that progress in the new year ''depends on
whether Bush Republicans in Congress will choose to
work with us or will continue to work against us.''
Republicans see
it differently. House minority leader John Boehner said
his party succeeded in 2007 in defining Democrats as
big-government tax-and-spenders. He said the GOP
''will continue to oppose these job-killing policies,
and will press for reforms that will encourage
economic growth and prosperity.''
The Senate
returns January 22 to deal with a particularly divisive
issue, renewal of a six-month law defining electronic
surveillance powers. The law is due to expire February
1. The House passed a version in November, but it has
a veto threat hanging over it. Reid has suggested extending
the existing law for a month.
The House will
also hold hearings its first week back on the baseball
steroid scandal. On January 28, Congress will host Bush for
his annual State of the Union address. The White House
will make its budget proposals in early February and a
stimulus package to rescue the flagging economy is a
growing possibility.
''I don't think
you can just sit and watch this economy go into a
recession,'' said Democratic senator Byron Dorgan of North
Dakota, predicting that economic matters, as well as
accessibility to health care, will dominate this year.
Any legislative
efforts this year will be in the shadow of November's
election.
''I'm a realist
and I understand this is a presidential and congressional
election year and it will be hard to do some things,'' U.S.
Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Thomas Donohue
said at a news conference.
Nonetheless,
Donohue said he hoped that, after the collapse of a major
immigration bill in 2007, Congress might take some
incremental action to address a shortage of seasonal
and technical workers.
Linda Fowler, a
political science professor at Dartmouth College, said
Congress could end up defying the low expectations for it
this year.
''The Democrats
need to make a record to run on but so do the
Republicans,'' she said. ''Sometimes Congress gets pretty
productive in September and October'' before an
election, she said, recalling the 1996 law overhauling
welfare programs.
Among other
issues in 2008:
-Democrats, with no success in linking Iraq funding
to an end to U.S. military involvement, may take a
more targeted oversight approach this year. The Senate
could take up House-passed legislation to extend U.S.
criminal jurisdiction to contractors working in Iraq.
-Both the
House and Senate have passed five-year, $286 billion farm
and nutrition bills. The two chambers now must work
out a compromise acceptable to the White House.
-The White
House is pressing for renewal of the No Child Left Behind
law, but issues remain over funding and flexibility.
-Congress
approved a free trade agreement with Peru last year, but
congressional action on three other pending agreements, with
Colombia, Panama, and South Korea, are uncertain.
Democrats want to see expansion of a program offering
assistance to workers displaced by trade.
-Congress
will also probably consider further steps to aid those hit
by the subprime mortgage crisis.
-There's a
full plate of leftovers from last year, including renewal of
the federal flood insurance program, improving consumer
safety in the wake of Chinese toy recalls, expanding
hate-crimes law to cover gays, funding embryonic
stem cell research and dealing with the alternative
minimum tax. (Jim Abrams, AP)