After years of gridlock, Congress is poised to unleash a flurry of legislative activity early in 2017. The agenda is jam-packed as the Republican-led Congress targets major changes to the Affordable Care Act, Dodd-Frank, taxes and a host of Obama administration regulatory initiatives. Republicans will leverage their congressional majorities to advance their policy priorities, but Democrats have procedural weapons to delay or even derail certain GOP initiatives as they hope to shape legislative outcomes more to their party’s liking. Overshadowing it all will be Donald Trump. How will the new president work with Congress? What happens when the legislative process inevitably slows or the White House loses a key vote? How will lawmakers react when they’re singled out for criticism in a presidential tweet?
