WASHINGTON - Between now and Election Day, Democrats will use Congress to showcase the kinds of change promised by their presidential candidate, Barack Obama.

Some of their legislation has good prospects of passage -- policy blueprints for higher education and the military, as well as a ban on lead in toys.

Other bills they will debate are doomed. But on those, the point isn't passage this year. It's about making the case that the Democrats' plan for children's health care, for example, won't become law without one of their own in the White House.

Now that the primaries are over, "We relish the opportunity to compare agendas," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Other bills with good prospects for passage include shielding middle-income taxpayers from the alternative minimum tax, extending some expiring tax breaks for businesses and preventing doctors from absorbing cuts in Medicare payments.

Democrats also hope for a major boost in the GI Bill for veterans' college benefits, at a cost of more than $50 billion over the upcoming decade. Obama supports this, but Republican John McCain and the Pentagon oppose the bill because it would award the benefits after only three years of service.

Democrats in both chambers also are introducing bills that would bring the nation's free-trade agreements to a halt, a move pushed by labor unions. McCain backs free trade.

But congressional action as a campaign tool can cut both ways. Republicans senators have warned, for example, that Democratic blocking of President Bush's judicial nominations could trigger retaliation if Democrats win the White House.

associated press