GOP Opens Lame-Duck Session of Congress

Former Redskins quarterback and representative-elect Heath Shuler, D-N.C., talks on a cell phone prior to the first orientation meeting of newly-elected members of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington Monday, Nov. 13, 2006. (AP Photo/Dennis Cook) (Dennis Cook - AP)

A lame-duck session could last until Dec. 22 with a two-week break for Thanksgiving. On their agenda is nine spending bills, reviving popular business and middle-income tax breaks; bioterrorism legislation and giving doctors a reprieve from billions of dollars in scheduled Medicare payment cuts.

The Vietnam trade bill failed Monday to gain the two-thirds majority required to pass without lengthy debate. House Republicans were expected to try again to pass the measure Wednesday, under rules that require only a simple majority for passage.

The Senate started work Monday on a spending bill for veterans and military construction, while the House took up the Vietnam trade bill ahead of Bush's scheduled visit to the country Friday.

The atmosphere Monday echoed 1994, when Congress briefly returned after the GOP landslide to ratify a trade bill. Then, there were dozens of the "living dead" _ Democratic lawmakers who lost re-election bids _ who returned to Washington still smarting over their losses. There are at least 26 defeated Republican incumbents in that situation this year. Ten races, all in the House, are still undecided.

Away from the television lights, other drama emerged as the House speaker-to-be, Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., prepared to take the reins of the House and Reid did the same in the Senate.

The behind-the-scenes agenda included leadership elections and jockeying for committee and subcommittee chairmanships in the next Congress, exposing divisions on both parties.

On the Democratic side, politicking is under way for party leadership elections scheduled for Thursday. Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., a Marine Corps veteran and hawk on military issues who became the darling of the anti-war movement after calling for a U.S. pullout from Iraq, is running against Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland to be majority leader.

Pelosi is backing longtime ally Murtha in the majority leader race. Hoyer is an old Pelosi rival dating back to a bitter 2001 leadership race.

House Republicans also face leadership contests, with three lawmakers hoping to succeed Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., as the GOP leader. Hastert said last week that he doesn't want to be minority leader.

Boehner, R-Ohio, now No. 2 to Hastert, is favored to get the job, but he faces challenges from Mike Pence, an ambitious conservative from Indiana, and from Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton, a 12-term Texan mounting a long-shot bid.