Congress Looks Ahead to Pre-Election Battles

“Congress comes back to session this week with leaders of both parties planning a war of words in 2014 — dueling agendas that promise little substantive legislation but lots of messages aimed at establishing clear contrasts for voters heading toward the midterm election,” the Los Angeles Times reports.

“After they dispatch a few must-pass fiscal measures early in the year, legislators seem unlikely to put together major accomplishments. Rather, the Republican-led House and the Democratic-controlled Senate will essentially become something like sound stages for the advertising wars that will unfold in the handful of states and districts that could decide partisan control of the next Congress.”

“The agendas reflect a basic reality of the modern Congress — much of what lawmakers do does not include actually making laws.”

Wall Street Journal: “Members of Congress returning to work this week are plunging immediately into policy battles that will shape their campaigns for the November elections.”