What can we expect from Congress in 2015?

HARI SREENIVASAN:

As we mentioned, Congress returns to work Tuesday with Republicans in charge of both the House and now the Senate.

What's in store?

For more, we are joined now from Washington by Niels Lesniewski. He's a staff writer with Roll Call.

So, different power players now, as all the committee heads shift. What's likely to happen?

NIELS LESNIEWSKI, Roll Call:

Well, what we're going to see in the Senate, where these big changes are happening, obviously, with the party control switch most particularly, is, we're going to see the Republicans get right down to one of the agenda items that they have had online for a long time, and that's approving that Keystone XL pipeline from Canada.

The pipeline project is going to come up for committee consideration Wednesday and Thursday of this week. And so, by the end of the week, that bill should be out of the committee and be well on its way to the floor. Now, of course, as you noted with the — all the chairmanships switching, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is the Republican who going to be the chairwoman of that panel.

And we're going to see that all over the place. And we will see it not just on legislative issues, but we will start to see a lot more oversight hearings as well in ways that maybe the administration would not like to see. If you're the White House, you're going to have people up on the Hill all the time to consider things.

HARI SREENIVASAN:

So, does this set up a veto test for the president, whether it's Keystone or other pieces of legislation, where it's almost a kind of a strategic trap, if, let's say, Republicans can get lots of legislation passed, get it to the White House's door, and say, look, here's the guy that is the obstructionist, here's the guy that is using his veto power and not getting anything done in Washington?

NIELS LESNIEWSKI:

Absolutely.

The test — Keystone will be the first test. I think everyone is sort of expecting that the president would in fact veto that item. The test really will be, how far can the Republicans go down the road of sending things to the president that he's going to veto, given the fact that there is still the 60-vote requirement to overcome a potential filibuster in the Senate?

And you know if you do things that are too against what — the wishes of the president, that you're not going to get the handful of Democrats that would be needed to overcome those procedural barriers. So, there sort of is this balancing act. What is the sweet spot where you can find five or 10 Democrats in the Senate to go along with something that the House Republicans and Senate Republicans want to do, and cause a tough decision for the president?

HARI SREENIVASAN:

Well, what about things like immigration or the Affordable Care Act? Is there some give-and-take that could be happening?

NIELS LESNIEWSKI:

Well, I think, particularly on the health care law, that's a perfect example of what I was just referring to, because what you will see is votes that everyone knows are doomed on repealing the ACA outright.

But then you will also see what some people have termed little rifle shot-type measures where there are provisions of the health care law that have broad opposition, like an excise tax on medical device manufacturers, that probably, if you put it up for a vote in the Senate, could get maybe 70 votes.

I don't know exactly the numbers. I haven't counted with the new Senate. But it would get an overwhelming majority. And that's the kind of thing that could actually cause a tough test for the president, because it would actually get down to the White House.

HARI SREENIVASAN:

And this doesn't happen in a vacuum. This is still kind of in the looming prospects of 2016. There are senators and members of the House perhaps that are posturing and positioning themselves to make a run for it.

So, this is really the Republicans' opportunity to show off what they can do and how they can govern when they do have Congress, right?

NIELS LESNIEWSKI:

Right.

And so what we will see, which will be a bit of a test as well, if you're the Republican leadership in the Senate particularly, is dealing with the number of your members who might be posturing or thinking about seriously running for president.

And there are times when political interests and the need to get attention will not align with trying to get actual legislation to the president's desk. You could see situations where a senator who is running for president sort of seizes the Senate floor and sort of tries to attract attention in a way that is not what Senator McConnell, the Republican leadership would want.

And that will be another balancing act that we will — we will see going into the next year or so, before people start really heading in earnest — I know they have already gone, some — but before heading in earnest to Iowa and New Hampshire.

HARI SREENIVASAN:

All right, Niels Lesniewski from Roll Call, thanks so much.

NIELS LESNIEWSKI:

Thank you.