After a relatively quiet August recess, Congress returned to the Hill this week amid the specter of a multi-front battle that promises plenty of ink for headlines in the coming weeks.
With threats from Sen. Ted Cruz to shutdown the federal government over funding for Planned Parenthood, the intra-party fight between conservative hardliners and GOP leadership is almost certain to boil over.
On the foreign policy front, Republicans are pressing forward with plans to vote on a resolution condemning the Iran nuclear deal despite that President Obama has secured enough support to sustain his veto.
At present, only 21% of American voters support the deal, which means that Republican leadership intend to score a political victory by forcing Obama to openly oppose public sentiment.
Amid all the furor, Pope Francis’ visit to DC later this month is expected to stoke the fires of partisanship with both parties publicly anticipating a tongue-lashing for the other in the pontiff’s address to a joint-house gathering at the capitol.
