After recess, Congress has its hands full

WASHINGTON -- As Congress returns today after a month-long recess, lawmakers face a pileup of pressing legislation, from immigration to energy, that has been eclipsed by the all-consuming battle over health care.

Many pending issues, such as climate change and new Wall Street regulations, are priorities for President Obama but have nonetheless had to compete for attention as the administration and lawmakers work to pass health care by the end of the year.Health care will continue to dominate the agenda at least through the fall as Obama takes a more active role in prodding his plan along — beginning with an address to Congress on Wednesday.

"When we bite off more than we can chew, we don't succeed," Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said in an interview. "Most people who have watched Washington know it can only do one big thing at a time."

Advocates of other issues say Congress cannot neglect those matters. Travis Plunkett of the Consumer Federation of America said passing banking regulations to prevent another economic meltdown should top the to-do list for lawmakers. Plunkett said the rules should be approved soon to avoid the politics of next year's midterm elections.

"The further we get from the collapse of last fall, the less pressure Congress seems to feel," he said.

Although the House has made progress on the issue, movement has been slower in the Senate. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, D-Conn., a key player on regulation, was thrust into the health care debate this year after the health committee chairman, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., was diagnosed with brain cancer. Before Kennedy's death last month, Dodd was the second-ranking Democrat on the health committee.

Pam Banks, policy counsel for the Consumers Union, said that there are encouraging signs Congress will act this year but that sometimes-heated town-hall-style meetings "sucked the air out of the room" last month.

Climate-change legislation, meanwhile, has twice been delayed in the Senate after narrowly passing the House in June. Although a draft of the Senate bill was expected in July, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., says it won't be ready until "later in September," partly because of the health care debate.