WASHINGTON -- Democratic congressional leaders, eager to trumpet that change has come to Washington, are looking to enact quickly a series of popular bills in January in such areas as renewable energy, children's health care and embryonic stem-cell research.

The top priority remains an economic stimulus package. But Democrats also want to tackle rapidly an array of bills they consider "low-hanging fruit." Those measures won considerable bipartisan support in the last Congress, but were vetoed, filibustered or otherwise blocked...