WASHINGTON — He might be expected to be winding down, but Rep. Ed Case has a lengthy check list of legislation and constituent cases to complete before he leaves his congressional office for the final time in January.

"I've got a ton of irons still in the fire," said Case, who chose a Senate bid over running for re-election to Congress. He lost the Democratic primary for Senate to incumbent Sen. Daniel K. Akaka.

Some of those irons involved money that could be allocated if several spending bills are passed. Included are invasive species programs, such as the $1.34 million for brown tree snake control, Case said.

"I've got $6 million in there (an agriculture spending bill) for debris removal from the Kaua'i and O'ahu floods earlier this year," said Case, who is leaving after four years in Congress.

Other spending bills include about $55.8 million for Native Hawaiian programs, including $31.4 million for education and $8.8 million for housing, Case said.

Case said he's also concerned about having Congress reauthorize several Native Hawaiian programs, with one for Native Hawaiian housing at the top of the list.

All the delegation members are pushing to get that one done as soon as possible, he said.

"We believe it can be completed by the end of the year," he said.

But Case may be optimistic about what can be accomplished before the new Congress convenes in early January, several congressional observers said.

Congress is expected to return to work on Nov. 13, primarily to take up spending bills for this fiscal year, which began Oct. 1. If they haven't completed their work before Thanksgiving, the schedule calls for them to return on Dec. 4.

But if the election puts Democrats in control of the House or Senate, little more may get done than just funding the government until the new Congress takes over, said Michael McDonald, a congressional expert at George Mason University.

"It's going to be a whole lot of nothing," he said. "Even if the Democrats only make sizeable gains in their seats, it is still going to make it difficult to reach any sort of compromise on legislation."

But Case was still hopeful about other legislation that has become a priority to him over his four years in Congress.

"We do want to finish off the Kalaupapa memorial," he said. "We think we can get that done."

That is a monument to people who died at the Hansen's disease colony on Moloka'i from 1866 to 1969.

Other legislation involves allowing children of World War II veterans from the Philippines to have accelerated immigration status, and a measure to preserve the Ka'u coast on the Big Island, Case said.

The Ka'u coast bill would require a study of the 27-mile coastline to preserve it as part of the National Park System, Case said.

"I'm not sure yet whether I'm going to be able to advance that bill but I certainly want to get the issue as far along as I can," he said.

But Case said legislation isn't the only thing happening during his final two months in office.

"My office is still open and people still want things from my office," he said. "People are still writing and communicating with great regularity, and I want to respond to them."

Case said his office has communicated with about 50,000 people this year and has about 200 constituent cases still open from people needing help with Social Security and other issues.

The final thing Case said he will do is write a memo to his successor outlining everything the office did in the past four years and things that should be considered in the future.

"My successor is going to have as good a head start as anybody ever had," Case said. "They obviously have to chart their own course and apply their own priorities, but they don't have to reinvent the wheel."

Asked what he will do when he leaves office, Case quipped he would "get a real job" but admitted he didn't know what yet.

"I've always had three focuses — my family, Hawai'i and public service," he said. "Whatever I do will definitely have those three components in it. I'm not in a rush to have it take final form."

In the meantime, Case and his wife are touring Vietnam and Cambodia.

"We're just going to be budget tourists," he said. "I'm going to sit overseas in Vietnam and watch American politics from a great distance."

Reach Dennis Camire at dcamire@gns.gannett.com.