The record of the 110th Congress, which returns to Washington for its second session later this month, is a study in contrasts: A few solid achievements against a background of surly partisanship that has stalled progress on many significant issues. It's not likely to get better this election year, given the political crosswinds blowing across Washington.

President Bush is eager to wield his veto pen to block an ambitious agenda by Democrats who control Congress, albeit by the thinnest of margins. His Republican allies on Capitol Hill have discovered that minority status is not so bad as long as they have enough votes to foil the majority's plans. Time and again on a variety of issues — the war in Iraq, for example, or a plan to allow Medicare to negotiate prices for prescription drugs — Republicans managed to stymie the Democratic majority. Paradoxically, immigration reform failed not for want of Democratic support for President Bush's plan but rather because Republican lawmakers preferred to listen to their angry "base" instead of their own party's nominal leader.

Our suggestion, therefore, is to stick to doable issues and avoid the heated rhetoric on Iraq, immigration and other matters where deep divisions make progress impossible. Members showed that Congress can move forward on a bipartisan basis on issues where some consensus is possible.

Democrats were able to corral enough Republican support early in the year to enact the first minimum wage increase in a decade, enact the 9/11 Commission's recommendations and lower interest rates on student loans. Perhaps the biggest achievement of the year was an energy bill that mandated the first increase in car and truck fuel efficiency standards since 1975. Congress also passed and the president signed a free-trade agreement with Peru, both chambers passed new ethics rules, and a long-needed update of the Freedom of Information Act became law last month with the president's signature.

Last week, in another demonstration of the sort of needed legislation that even a divided Congress can produce, President Bush signed a bill aimed at preventing the severely mentally ill from buying guns. The bill, sparked by the bloody rampage at Virginia Tech, will help states improve their ability to keep track of individuals who shouldn't qualify to buy a gun legally.

A comprehensive list of legislation that Congress should make a priority and stands a chance of approval would be too long for this space, but here is a partial list:

• Mortgage reform: With the help of 64 GOP votes, the House passed a bill establishing minimum standards for home loans and expanding limits on high-cost mortgages. The Senate should act quickly on a companion bill that would also establish a series of minimum standards for subprime mortgages.

• Free trade: Pacts with Colombia, Panama and South Korea are yet to be considered. Of these, Colombia is the most urgent and can still be achieved if Democrats take into account the progress that Colombia has made under President Alvaro Uribe. One way to get reluctant Democrats to go along with this deal would be for GOP lawmakers to agree with a Democratic measure that expands a program offering assistance to workers whose jobs have been lost to overseas ventures.

• Veterans: Last month, President Bush vetoed a defense bill that contained a number of provisions similar to the recommendations of a presidential commission led by former Sen. Bob Dole and former Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala. The president objected to an unrelated provision in the bill concerning Iraqi assets in the United States. Congress should eliminate this provision and send the bill back to the president, along with two other unfinished bills that would aid veterans but remain tied up in the Senate.

• Consumer safety: The House in December passed a bill increasing the budget of the Consumer Product Safety Commission and setting tougher lead standards for children's products. It requires independent toy testing and creates requirements that would help manufacturers track and find faulty products. The Senate needs to pass the companion bill.

• Workplace protection: A bill aimed at barring discrimination against gays and lesbians was approved in the House but remains tied up in the Senate because of a provision on gender identity. The Senate should not let this issue prevent it from passing a narrower protection bill, if that is all it can agree on.