As the first session of the 107th Congress wound down, the wonderful days of bipartisan behavior that followed September 11 gave way to partisan bickering over what the country needed by way of legislation. Democrat leadership in the Senate lacked the inclination to press forward on bills related to economic stimulus, defense spending and energy and turned the Senate’s attention to a railroad pension bill and a farm bill. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives showed little compulsion to trudge along the Senate path.
Still pending at press time were an assortment of seven funding bills necessary to keep the government running, and a continuing resolution to keep current funding levels until December 7 did little to increase the snail-like speed toward enabling legislation. Consequently, lumping the remaining appropriations bills into one vehicle, a so-called omnibus bill, so that Congress could change the adjournment time frame was a reasonable possibility.
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