The Questions That Will Define Congress in the Coming Year

Government Executive: In the weeks after Paul Ry­an took the House speak­er’s gavel, re­port­ers began cast­ing vari­ous bills and de­cisions as his “first test.”  That in­stant cliché has more than run its course. But 2016 will test the new speak­er many times over, even if it’s thank­fully way too soon for hot takes on “Paul Ry­an’s Fi­nal Ex­am.”

Across the Cap­it­ol, where the fili­buster makes it even harder to get any­thing done, 2016 will bring the fi­nal year of battles between Sen­ate GOP lead­er Mitch Mc­Con­nell and re­tir­ing Demo­crat­ic lead­er Harry Re­id. Maybe the two long­time rivals will be in a mood to ne­go­ti­ate, or the pres­id­en­tial race could mean that polit­ic­al mes­saging trumps gov­ern­ing.

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