No Safe Bets For Obama Despite Toned-Down Agenda

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is laying down a three-item to-do list for Congress as he regroups after the political feud that shut down the government. He wants lawmakers to finish a budget, an immigration overhaul and a farm bill by the end of the year.

That to-do list seems meager when compared with the ambitious, progressive agenda he envisioned at the start of his second term. That's when Obama was calling for gun control legislation, expanded preschool education, a higher minimum wage and climate change initiatives.

Still, given the capital's partisanship, the complex issues and the limited time left, even those items face big hurdles. They'll require political muscle, skill and ever-elusive compromise, and there's no guarantee of success.