In a remarkably productive lame duck session, Congress has passed a tax compromise, pushed through a food safety bill, repealed "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" and is now moving on to the Russia-US New Start arms treaty. How has a Congress that took significant hits during the midterm election managed to get so much done?

The Nation‘s Katrina vanden Heuvel joins the New York Times‘s Matt Bai and the American Conservative Union’s David Keene on The Diane Rehm Show to examine the high-stakes legislative issues that this Congress has tackled. For vanden Heuvel, the two years of this Congress has been "a landmark session: we’ve seen major landmark pieces of legislation, healthcare reform, financial reform legislation. We’ve seen smaller pieces, yet still important ones: Lily Ledbetter pay equity bill, student loan reforms making it easier for young people to go to college."

How will these last-minute additions to this admirable list affect Obama’s agenda in the coming months? Go here to listen to the full conversation.