PCongress’ September agenda, already destined to be tense and dramatic, got worse while lawmakers were away this summer. Now they end their five-week recess by plunging into an emotional debate over whether to launch missile strikes against Syria.

That will leave them even less time to meet looming deadlines on budget problems, the big issue that’s been building for months. And then, just maybe, they will turn to immigration, the once fiercely debated topic that somehow moved to Washington’s back burner.

No member of Congress is in a tighter spot than House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. He risks seeing most of his Republican colleagues vote against him on three major issues, just as they did earlier on a hurricane relief bill and the “fiscal cliff” budget showdown.

Boehner supports President Barack Obama’s proposal to fire missiles into Syria as punishment for the gassing of hundreds of civilians. GOP rank-and-file opposition, however, is running strong, especially in the House.

On the budget front, Boehner says he wants no government shutdown or default on the debt. Those scenarios conceivably could result in a few weeks from partisan impasses over spending and the need to raise the ceiling on how much the government can borrow.

(AP)