Analysis

The president will visit the city's police department — most police organizations favor tougher gun laws. The president leaves behind a new Congress that's getting down to business. Consuming most lawmakers' time are the budget and deficit.

The proposal would include a pathway to citizenship for millions of people now in the United States illegally. Republicans have led the opposition to that change up to now, commonly calling it amnesty.

Less than a week into his second term, President Obama has already met with resistance over procedural matters, such as his use of the recess appointment to circumvent the Senate confirmation process. Weekends on All Things Considered host Robert Smith speaks with James Fallows, national correspondent for The Atlantic.

With just a couple of days before President Obama receives his second inaugural parade, weekends on All Things Considered host Jacki Lyden speaks with James Fallows of The Atlantic about whether we can expect Obama's second term to fall into the same patterns as previous second-term presidents. Historically, the second term has an emphasis on foreign policy and is often riddled with scandal.

With yet another impasse over the debt ceiling looming, the White House may be forced to mull some strange solutions, but it won't be a $1 trillion coin. Weekends on All Things Considered host Jacki Lyden speaks with James Fallows of The Atlantic about the other options on table.

For more about the week ahead in politics, Renee Montagne talks to regular Morning Edition contributor Cokie Roberts.

Weekends on All Things Considered host Jacki Lyden talks with regular contributor James Fallows of The Atlantic about some of the top stories in the news this past week.

Weekend Edition Saturday guest host Linda Wertheimer talks with NPR's Debbie Elliott about how next year's debate on immigration reform might take shape.

Weekend Edition Saturday host Scott Simon talks with Atlantic correspondent Jeffrey Goldberg about the massacre in Newtown, Conn. He wrote the cover story in this month's issue, titled "The Case For More Guns — And More Gun Control." In it, Goldberg posits that it's impossible to reduce gun crime with the number of guns already on the street, and that maybe the answer is to allow more people to carry them.

On Friday, members of Congress went home without settling their differences over how to avoid the spending decreases and tax increases known as the "fiscal cliff."