WASHINGTON — After a monthlong summer recess, Congress returned to work Monday with dim prospects for agreeing on ways to address the nation's energy problems, the foundering economy or long-term funding for the federal government.
Instead, the 110th Congress appears headed for adjournment next month with more finger-pointing and much business left for the next Congress to tackle in January.
Under the shadow of the impending fall election, the partisan rancor that has consumed much of this Congress resumed as party leaders borrowed from the same rhetoric they were using on the campaign trail.
In the first floor speech of the new session, House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) promised to highlight GOP responsibility for rising unemployment, stagnating wages and the skyrocketing federal debt, noting Republicans have controlled the White House and Congress for six of the last eight years.
"This month, we will be holding them to account," Hoyer said.
Hoyer's Republican counterpart, Minority Leader John A. Boehner of Ohio, quickly shot back, criticizing two years of Democratic control of Congress.
"They have had the opportunity to lead," he said in a statement. "Instead, they have stumbled and fumbled, producing little but embarrassing ethical lapses and political posturing."
Many Republicans see political advantage in casting the first Democratic Congress since 1994 as a "do-nothing" institution, while Democrats look toward next year when, as polls suggest, they could hold larger majorities.
Some lawmakers held out hopes for progress in the waning days of the Congress.
The Senate moved toward approving more military spending. And lawmakers hope to put more money in the federal highway trust fund to make up for declining gas tax receipts.
At the same time, a bipartisan group of senators continued to work on a compromise energy bill to expand offshore drilling, repeal tax breaks for oil companies and boost federal support for other energy technologies such as lower emission vehicles and liquefied coal for transportation use.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Monday he hoped to hold votes on the energy proposal and others next week.
But obstacles to an energy compromise remain high, along with hopes for agreements on a new economic stimulus measure or the federal budget.
In the increasingly acrimonious House, the two parties have been locked in a bitter showdown over energy for months.
