Whether we want them to or not, Congress comes back from summer recess this week with Democrats torn between trying to show that they can fix the economic mess they have gotten us into or laying low until after the Midterm Massacre on November 2nd.

It looks like they will fly under the radar.

The Congressional Calender is full as lawmakers begin four weeks of writing and trying to pass bills before leaving sneaking out of town ahead of the Nov. 2 election: Bush-era tax cuts are set to expire at year’s end; annual spending bills await action; and President Barack Hussein Obama (peace be unto him) last week unveiled a new brilliant plan to stimulate the economy through tax credits, breaks for business investment and public works projects.

Unfortunately for Scooter, all signs point to the Democrats going into a holding pattern until after the Midterms.

Congressional majority members are come back to Washington after a month of being at home, getting an earful from their constituents.  On top of that, Republicans are dead-set against White House initiatives.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md. lamented:

It will be difficult to get a very broad agenda through.

The Democrats will probably try to put off some issues until the lame-duck session after the election.  The problem with that is that Republicans will not cooperate, because they will have regained majority control of the House and, possibly the Senate, also.

The Dems have promised their voters that they’ll act before the end of the year to extend the middle-class tax cuts pushed through by President George W. Bush.  But if they don’t, a family in the $50,000-$75,000 income range would face an extra $1,126 in taxes next year.

Obama and most of the Democrats want the extensions to apply only to individuals with annual incomes of less than $200,000, or joint filers earning less than $250,000. Continuing those tax cuts would add $3.1 trillion to the national debt over the next decade. The debt would rise by an additional $700 billion if tax cuts for the richest people are also extended.

But some Democrats, with common sense, say that with the economy in bad shape, the time’s not right to end tax breaks for the wealthy. Republicans, headed by House GOP leader John Boehner of Ohio, are demanding a two-year freeze on all tax rates.

Boehner told CBS‘ “Face the Nation” in an interview broadcast Sunday:

If the only option I have is to vote for those at 250 and below, of course I’m going to do that. But I’m going to do everything I can to fight to make sure that we extend the current tax rates for all Americans.

How many of those Liberal Democrats have ever been hired by a poor person?

House Democratic leaders want to wait and see what the Senate does before tackling the tax cut issue.

Congress still has not presented the president any of the 12 annual spending bills it must consider to pay for government programs when the new budget year starts on Oct. 1.  Because Congresscritters are afraid of losing their jobs due to spending increases, they instead will have to vote to keep agencies funded at current levels to avoid a shutdown.

Among others bills that will be put on the back burner are a bill to authorize defense programs for 2011 and a bill requiring greater disclosure of corporate and union spending on campaign ads.

Senate Republicans have opposed the defense bill because the House added a provision to end the don’t ask-don’t tell policy for gays serving in the military. GOP aides said that there would be three weeks or four weeks of debate time  over that bill, if that provision remains in it.

The campaign spending bill was a response to a Supreme Court ruling lifting restrictions on election ad spending.  Advocates of the measure, mostly Democrats, which requires greater identification of those financing ads, had hoped it could be passed before the November elections.   But in July, the Senate fell three votes short of overcoming a GOP filibuster.

However, Congress will still try to pass some bills before they recess again.

First on the Senate’s agenda, is a bill creating a $30 billion government fund that is supposed to encourage lending to small businesses and provide about $12 billion in small business tax breaks. Democrats should have the votes, and it could pass in the week the Senate returns.

Unfortunately for the Dems, they are going to have to face the House ethics committee trials of two of their most prominent members, Reps. Charles Rangel of New York and Maxine Waters of California, for alleged ethics violations. One or both of those trials could begin before the fall election.

Sho’ ’nuff hate it for them.

The Senate will open a trial today on the impeachment of U.S. District Court Judge G. Thomas Porteous Jr.   Last March, the House approved four impeachment articles charging the Louisiana judge with taking payoffs and lying under oath.

This will be the first impeachment trial since the one held for former President Bill Clinton in 1999. The Senate acquitted Clinton. If Porteous is found guilty, he would become the eighth federal judge in U.S. history to be impeached and convicted.

Other issues that may or may not be addressed include:

–The Senate is about to passing food safety legislation giving the Food and Drug Administration greater power to order recalls and to increase inspections of food facilities. The House has already passed a similar bill.

–The House could discuss a $4.5 billion Senate-passed Nanny-State child nutrition bill, promoted by first lady Michelle Obama, that would create healthier standards for food served in schools.

–The Senate could act on a rules change, pushed by some of its newer members, to end the custom where a single senator can secretly block a bill or a nomination.  I wouldn’t bet on it, though.

–The Senate Foreign Relations Committee plans to vote on a new arms treaty with Russia. A two-thirds vote by the full Senate is needed for ratification. Also possible, although probably a long shot, is consideration of a long-stalled free trade agreement with South Korea.

Hopefully,  America will make it though the rest of this year without this self-aggrandizing, immensely unpopular Congress inflicting further damage to our country.  They are all running scared right now and they have no one to blame but themselves.