Congress back to business, at least briefly, beginning Monday

By Bob Keefe

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

WASHINGTON -- Congress returns to Washington on Monday with three items on its plate -- money, power and politics -- and Georgia's delegation will be right smack in the middle of it all.

One of the first orders of business when House lawmakers gather for the first time since the midterm elections is picking their new leaders. The caucuses are expected to vote on Wednesday, and the positions will take effect when the new term starts in January.

Republicans are expected to elect a new House speaker -- almost certainly Ohio Rep. John Boehner -- and other top House leaders. Rep. Tom Price of Roswell is running for one top post, chairman of the Republican Policy Committee. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland of Coweta County is jockeying for a regional leadership position on the influential Republican Steering Committee, which hands out committee assignments to other members.

House Democrats, meanwhile, will pick a new minority leader -- almost certainly outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Rep. John Lewis of Atlanta is expected to remain a senior Democratic chief deputy whip.

The Senate, meanwhile, will take the lead in doing the country's business during the "lame-duck" session of Congress. It's so named because lawmakers who were voted out of office Nov. 2 -- as well as those who chose not to run again -- will be among those making decisions. Any legislation the Senate approves is expected to quickly make its way to the House for approval.

Up until Nov. 2, some Democrats had considered using the lame-duck session to try to advance some controversial issues, such as climate change, labor union legislation and immigration reform. But their disaster at the polls in the midterm elections makes that less likely.

In the current Congress, the House has 255 Democrats, 178 Republicans and two vacant seats while the Senate has 57 Democrats, 41 Republicans and two independents.

The November elections gave the Republicans the majority in the House and narrowed the Democrats' lead in the Senate in the next Congress. According to Friday's figures from the House Clerk's Office, the House will have 239 Republicans and 193 Democrats (several races are still being decided). The Senate is expected to have 51 Democrats, 47 Republicans and two independents.

"Lame-duck sessions generally reflect the results of the election they follow," said Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson. "I think the message sent was that this will be a session where we get the things we have to get done, but we won't be revising issues like cap-and-trade or [the] Employee Free Choice [Act]."

Instead, the Senate is expected to quickly address the federal budget. The fiscal 2011 federal budget year started Oct. 1, and federal agencies have been operating under a "continuing resolution" that generally leaves spending at fiscal 2010 levels. It expires Dec. 3. Lawmakers could belatedly approve a dozen fiscal 2011 spending bills -- or pass another continuing resolution and leave the budget for the next Congress.

The Senate also is expected to take up the question of whether to extend the Bush-era tax cuts that are set to expire at the end of this year.

Both of Georgia's Republican senators strongly support the extension of the tax cuts -- as do most Republicans and many Democrats in the Senate -- saying they're vital to an economic recovery.

Two months ago, Isakson and Sen. Saxby Chambliss co-sponsored legislation with Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and others that would prevent the tax cuts from expiring on Dec. 31 as Congress and President George W. Bush originally intended.

"The public is not undertaxed, the government is overspending," Chambliss said at the time.

President Barack Obama and some top Democrats have signaled they might be willing to compromise on their previously unwavering stance against Republicans' desires to keep tax cuts in place for all Americans, including the richest.

That's one area where the politics will come into play.

On Thursday, Obama is scheduled to have his first meeting with Boehner, McConnell and other top Republicans since the midterm elections.

"The immediate focus is going to be what we need to get done during the lame-duck session," Obama said in announcing the meeting.

"This is going to be a meeting in which I’ll want us to talk substantively about how we can move the American people’s agenda forward," he said. "It’s not just going to be a photo op. Hopefully -- it may spill over into dinner."

Also on the agenda for the lame-duck session, according to Obama and top congressional Democrats: a proposed extension of unemployment insurance benefits for the long-term unemployed and a new nuclear reduction treaty with Russia that Isakson and other members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed in September.

The lame-duck session is expected to last through the week.

Senate staffers have been advised to expect the lame-duck session to resume after Thanksgiving and last until Dec. 10, but many on Capitol Hill doubt the session will last that long.