He won’t do it via the law but by executive fiat : As President Obama remakes his senior staff, he is also shaping a new approach for the second half of his term: to advance his agenda through executive actions he can take on his own, rather than pushing plans through an increasingly hostile Congress. Read the rest here . For instance, if he can’t ram cap-and-tax through during the lame-duck session he can try and have the EPA use their authority to accomplish the same thing, all without congressional review or approval. Just watch.