The Democratically-controlled U.S. Congress on Tuesday is set to start its upcoming two-year session, amidst an economic crisis and the upcoming administration of U.S. President-Elect Barack Obama. While today will serve as the opening day of the Congressional session, Congress often takes recess until the new president takes office or after the State of the Union address at the end of January. The new session comes as Obama is promising an alleged $775 billion economy recovery program. “We will hit the ground running ... to address the pain being felt by the American people,” said U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, (Democrat from California). Pelosi had earlier promised to try to get the economic recovery bill ready for Obama's signature by Inauguration Day, an optimistic timeline that has now slipped by several weeks. Despite the sense of optimism, however, troubling realities threaten the Democratic agenda. Of the most troubling issues facing the upcoming Congress is the increasing budget deficit. New budget deficit projections from congressional estimators are expected to exceed $1 trillion for the current budget year — that could threaten other initiatives like extending health care to millions of the uninsured. With that in mind, Obama promises “very concrete, serious plans for midterm and long-term fiscal discipline.”
