While the terrorist attacks in India grabbed the headlines over Thanksgiving, the holiday season in DC will mainly feature more public hand wringing about the economy.

How much action Washington politicians will take is still in doubt.

This week, the Big Three automakers will submit their much ballyhooed plan to their Congressional Loan Officers, as GM, Chrysler and Ford look for some financial help from lawmakers.

There will be more hearings this week - and maybe - action by the Congress next week.

If Detroit is only asking for $25 billion, some might say that it's just chump change when compared to some of the aid plans that have been approved by the feds in recent months.

We'll see how lawmakers feel about it in coming days.  It's clearly an uphill battle for the Big Three, as was clear on a recent episode of Saturday Night Live, which thoroughly skewered the heads of the three US automakers from Detroit.

(For those of you who missed it, you can see it at http://www.bushautoblog.com/2008/11/video-snl-saturday-night-lives-parody.html)

The House and Senate won't be in session taking votes this week, though key lawmakers will be here dealing with automakers and more.

Today, Speaker Nancy Pelosi meets with several Governors to talk about the economy, as Democrats still haven't made clear how big of an economic recovery plan they'll likely approve in the New Year.

While the headlines today will be about Barack Obama's national security team, how he deals with the economy will be an important part of how he is evaluated by the voters.