Congress Returns to Work With Impeachment, Turkey Crowding Legislative Agenda

WASHINGTON—Lawmakers returning to Washington this week will find a political landscape transformed by the impeachment inquiry in the House and President Trump's withdrawal of U.S. troops from northern Syria.

When members of the House and Senate left Washington two weeks ago on recess, the impeachment inquiry had only just begun. House Democrats have since called for a bevy of witnesses and documents about Mr. Trump and his associates' dealings in Ukraine—including issuing a subpoena to the White House—and the White House has said it wouldn't cooperate with the probe.

While the inquiry has further inflamed partisan tensions, Republicans and Democrats are finding common ground excoriating Mr. Trump's removal of U.S. troops from northern Syria, which preceded the Turkish incursion into the country. Lawmakers in both parties have condemned the move as an abandonment of Kurdish allies in the region, and several are preparing legislation to place sanctions on Turkey, a NATO ally.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) tweeted on Monday that she was working with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) on a joint resolution calling on the president to overturn the decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria. Such a resolution, if it passed both chambers, wouldn't, on its own, have the power to reinstate U.S. troops in Syria, but it would provide lawmakers an opportunity to strongly register their disapproval.

Mr. Trump has signaled his support for legislative efforts to issue sanctions, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Friday that the administration was preparing sanctions against Turkey.

"You're already seeing bipartisan movement in the Senate," said Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D., Md.), the sponsor of a bill to sanction Turkey, Sunday on Fox. "You're also seeing bipartisan legislation in the House coming together. So the key is to act quickly."

Beyond that, Republicans and Democrats will attempt to make legislative progress that has eluded them for months before the 2020 election stifles what little room exists for compromise. The government is set to run out of funding after Nov. 21, leaving lawmakers with about six weeks to broker an agreement on how much money to spend on a border wall, among other matters. A fight that less than a year ago on that issue led to a 35-day government shutdown, the longest in U.S. history.

On gun control, there has been little engagement between the White House and Congress in recent weeks, and the president hasn't indicated what direction he would like to take. Republicans have said they won't act on gun control until Mr. Trump indicates his policy preference.

Meanwhile, House Democrats and members of the Trump administration are optimistic about the fate of the renegotiated trade deal between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, known as USMCA, that must be approved by Congress. House Democrats have been in negotiations with the Trump administration for months, and Mrs. Pelosi wants to approve the deal.

A White House official said talks between the White House and Democrats on the trade agreement moved at an accelerated pace in September.

Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D., Calif.), a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, visited Mexican officials last week with a handful of Democrats. He said the lawmakers received a commitment that Mexican leadership would send Mrs. Pelosi a letter outlining how they plan to ensure labor enforcement, a Democratic concern.

To secure enough votes to pass the House, the deal will require the backing of labor groups—which want to see the agreement changed so its standards are more enforceable. No major trade unions have backed the deal.

"I do believe it's something we can get done in 2019," Mr. Panetta said. "If not, we're basically back at Nafta and everybody I talk to agrees that this deal, even at its current state, is better than Nafta."

Since the beginning of the impeachment inquiry, each party has jockeyed to show that it can continue to deliver on policy priorities—and accused the other of falling into distraction with the investigation of the president.

"We should be passing USMCA, we should be lowering the cost of prescription drug prices," said Rep. Lee Zeldin (R., N.Y.) on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday.

House Democrats began the inquiry because of Mr. Trump's request to the Ukranian president that the country investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. Mr. Trump has called the phone call "perfect" and said he didn't condition nearly $400 million in military aid to the country on an investigation.

Passing legislation aimed at lowering prescription-drug prices has been a bipartisan goal for months. Mrs. Pelosi introduced a bill last month that would give the government the ability to negotiate for lower drug prices in Medicare and the private market, as part of a more sweeping effort than a Senate drug pricing bill being led by Sens. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) and Ron Wyden (D., Ore.). House Democrats are holding hearings on the Pelosi bill.

While Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) has denounced Mrs. Pelosi's bill as socialistic, the Trump administration has encouraged the House effort.

"The White House has welcomed the Speaker's ideas to help build bipartisan, bicameral consensus on a bill to lower drug prices even further for the American people, and the lines of communication remain open," White House spokesman Judd Deere said.

Negotiations to pass annual spending legislation deadlocked in the Senate because of disagreements about funding for border security. Avoiding another government shutdown will require compromise even as House Democrats prepare to impeach the president.