Ask the Expert: Winnie Stachelberg on Congress's lame duck session

What does Congress have on its agenda during its lame duck session?

Congress has a very large agenda for the lame duck session. I think the question is whether they'll actually tackle all the issues that are on the agenda. They've got about six months' worth of work to cram into about three weeks. They've got New START; they've got taxes; they've got CR, which is going to fund the government through next year; they've got a food safety bill; they have the defense authorization bill that they haven't gotten done; they have lots of things on their agenda and, just yesterday, Majority Leader Reid said that he was going to bring up the DREAM Act, he was going to bring up the national defense authorization bill, so there's a lot to do. It's a question of what the appetite of the lawmakers is, going into the lame duck session.

Which pieces of legislation are particularly important to pass?

The election was really dominated by a conversation about the economy so I think the most important pieces of legislation to pass are the ones that are driven to and looking at the economy—taxes, unemployment insurance, the CR that funds the government. Also important to pass, though, is the defense authorization bill, a bill that contains pay increases for the troops, veterans' health benefits called TRICARE, and of course repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. There are lots of competing priorities—there's a food safety bill that's moving right now through the lame duck that's very important; tackles the issues about our own food safety that has really been in the news of late. So there are a lot of important issues that need to be tackled, and again it's a question of whether and how long the Congress will stay in.

How could the elections affect action in Congress?

The elections have had a considerable effect on Congress already. The makeup of the Senate has shifted; Joe Manchin and Chris Coons are two new senators who've already been seated, the first from West Virginia, the second from Delaware. Sen.-elect Mark Kirk, who was a House member from Illinois, is going to be seated on November 29. So the elections have already had an impact on the makeup of Congress, in the Senate in particular. To take a step back, though, the elections have an ideological impact as well. With Republicans taking over the House, with a Speaker-elect Boehner waiting to take the gavel up in the 112th Congress in January, House Republicans in particular are emboldened to obstruct even more than they were in the 111th Congress. They have almost no incentive to work with Democrats to advance progressive policy that will address the concerns of the American people. The question now is, what will happen on the Senate side? Will the majority leader and the Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, be able to come together and cut some deals and work on some issues and tackle the tough problems? New START is a perfect example. Just yesterday, Sen. Lugar from Indiana, the ranking Republican member on the Foreign Relations Committee, rebuked his own Republican colleagues because they wouldn't come to the table, because they have been stalling on the New START treaty, which is terribly important for our nuclear safety and around the globe. So it's a question of what posture the Republicans in particular in the Senate will take as they approach the lame duck after thanksgiving. Will they come together and try to tackle the problems that face this country—unemployment, taxes, and appropriations—or will they obstruct? In other words, will they be working to cut deals, or will they be following the message of the Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who said a couple of weeks ago that he wanted to see President Obama as a one-term president?