The people’s work or ramming through an agenda?

It's a matter of perspective.

An announcement that Congress plans to convene following the Nov. 2 election is either necessary to pass much-needed middle class tax relief that Republicans have blocked. Or it's an attempt by Democrats to force through unpopular legislation as part of a lame duck session.

“For the past two years, Democrats have made a habit of ignoring the will of the American people in order to advance their big government agenda,” U.S. Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., said in a statement. “Now their leadership is enthusiastically endorsing doing so in a lame duck session of Congress. As if the past 19 months of failed policies have not left our nation in a large enough fiscal hole, Democrats believe that a lame duck session is the perfect opportunity to rack up additional items from their liberal wish list. Never mind the fact that our country cannot afford it and the American people do not want it. Democrats have not yet let the voices and concerns of families and job creators stand in their way. Perhaps it would be too much to ask that they begin listening now.”

However, in announcing the session, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said he hopes “Republicans will stop holding middle class tax cuts hostage, and instead join us in preventing a tax increase on hard-working families.”

“Democrats have been focused on creating jobs and helping middle class families throughout this Congress, and when we return in November, we will continue our work,” Hoyer said in a statement. “Our top priority will be extending  middle class tax cuts, which have been held hostage by Republicans who want to give tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans that would add $700 billion to the deficit.”

Congress is slated to meet the week of Nov. 15 and the week of Nov. 29.