• Following the recess for the year-end holiday season, the 110th Congress apparently was in no rush to resume work on leftover legislation and to prepare for new business. The House of Representatives returned on January 15, while the Senate indulged in “pro forma” or “hello and goodbye” sessions until January 22. The Senate’s delay was the result of Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) desire to tend to his state’s first-ever caucuses for presidential candidates.
• In late January House Democrats held their annual retreat, looked ahead and emerged with a scaled-down legislative plan to pass a sufficient number of bills to show they have been productive enough to warrant another two years in the majority. On tap would be passing a budget, an energy bill, providing money in the Highway Trust Fund for road projects and, later in the year, passing appropriations bills.
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