Congress reconvenes for the second leg of its lame-duck session on Monday with a long “to-do” list. As with any “to-do” list come dates by which the chores need to be completed.

The first of the two-legged, two-staged, lame-duck session of Congress begins Monday, and it consists of mostly wounded “ducks.” These winged fowl would love nothing more than to duck the huge legislative agenda that awaits them.

Congress comes back to D.C. this week after its August recess, which was packed with overseas travel, some constituent meetings and lots of hours spent “dialing for dollars.”

Congress begins this week with leftovers on its plate that hardly anyone wants to deal with. These include the stalled tax extenders bill in the Senate and the war supplemental appropriations bill in the House.