(CNN) Congressional Republicans return to Washington Monday prepared to plow ahead with their agenda after a long week back in their districts where high-octane town halls featuring contentious run-ins with constituents dominated headlines.

Back in Washington, however, members aren't expected to get much relief. Not only do they have a daunting to-do list, President Donald Trump's joint congressional address Tuesday is sure to color their efforts, if not disrupt their work entirely.

Senators return to their arduous task of confirming Trump's Cabinet, as Democrats remain committed to using everything in their procedural toolkit to slow progress.

Nonetheless, Republicans are expected to confirm Wilbur Ross as commerce secretary, as well as move forward on a trio of other nominations -- Ryan Zinke at the Interior Department, Ben Carson at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and Rick Perry's at the Energy Department.

Conservatives also are also hoping to move forward with repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act. It's a promise seven years in the making, and one that seems even more endangered given tense exchanges with constituents and schisms within the GOP over how to move forward. Public opinion is also turning, with two recent polls showing support for the current law at an all-time high.

Republicans need 50 senators to support their repeal package (they can pass it with Vice President Mike Pence as a tie breaker), but that means they can only afford to lose two lawmakers.

Last week, Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski told her state legislature in an address that she wouldn't support a plan that repealed Medicaid expansion available through Obamacare nor would she support defunding Planned Parenthood as part of repeal. That could be problematic if the final version of Obamacare repeal looks anything like a leaked draft released last week.

Alabama Republican Rep. Mo Brooks conceded last week in a local radio interview that the town halls were so powerful they might stop repeal in its tracks.

"I'll tell you, Toni, there are in my opinion a significant number of congressmen who are being impacted by these kinds of protests and their spine is a little bit weak," Brooks said on "The Morning Show with Toni & Gary" on WBHP 800 Alabama radio . "And I don't know if we're going to be able to repeal Obamacare now because these folks who support Obamacare are very active, they're putting pressure on congressman and there's not a counter-effort to steel the spine of some of these congressmen in toss-up districts around the country."

The town hall pressure came in the form of organized chants of "do your job" or even "ACA," as well as more thoughtful, but challenging questions from individual voters.

One such constituent asked Tennessee Republican Rep. Diane Black a detailed policy question before citing her Christian faith as her reason for supporting Obamacare.

"The healthy people pull up the sick people right?" the woman said. "As a Christian, my whole philosophy in life is pull up the less fortunate. The individual mandate, that's what it does."

At a town hall in Kentucky, a woman confronted Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell about the high numbers of people on food stamps in Kentucky, the lack of coal jobs and the lack of health insurance.

"If you can answer any of that, I'll sit down and shut up like Elizabeth Warren," the woman said, referencing McConnell's recent use of Senate procedure to stop the Massachusetts Democrat from speaking on the Senate floor.

Overshadowing everything, however, is still Trump.

After a rocky start, Trump is expected to focus his joint congressional address on policy goals, including health care and tax and regulatory reforms, as well as increased military spending. But even though Republicans finally have an ally in the White House to enact their party's agenda, Trump has proven he can be as much a hindrance as a help.

"In many respects, this administration is in disarray, and they've got a lot of work to do," Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain told an audience in Munich last week.

Trump's tone and the content of his Tuesday night speech will ultimately set Republicans' agenda for the near future, and could dictate whether they will be forced to answer new concerns from constituents or focus on their own long-standing wish list.

Trump's propensity to get distracted by personal grievances and his administration's sloppy roll out of its immigration executive order -- now stalled in the courts -- have put Hill Republicans on defense rather than offense.

And right before the recess, senators were briefed by FBI Director James Comey on the ongoing investigation into possible Trump's campaign ties to Russia.

Democrats, meanwhile, remain committed to playing defense on the Affordable Care Act and further investigating Trump's ties to Russia. In an interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi argued that Trump's former campaign ally and now Attorney General Jeff Sessions needs to recuse himself from overseeing any investigation into Trump's campaign's ties to Russia.

Pelosi also argued that Republicans "don''t have the votes" to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act despite their rhetoric.

"They don't have a replacement. What they have put forth and outlined will cost more to consumers. It will cover fewer people. It will give tax breaks to the wealthiest people," Pelosi said on ABC.