Lame Duck Session Tackles Spending Bills

This photo provided by the White House shows President Bush, center, rear, having breakfast with Republican Leadership, Thursday, Nov. 9, 2006, at the White House in Washington. Clockwise, from the president are, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tenn; Senate Majority Whip Mitch McConnell, R-Ky; Vice President Dick Cheney; House Majority Whip Roy Blunt of Mo.; House Majority Leader John Boehner of Ohio; and House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois. (AP Photo/White House, Paul Morse) (Paul Morse - AP)

WASHINGTON -- Nobody likes a lame-duck session of Congress, particularly the election losers who won't be around for the next session.

Republicans, who lost control of both the House and the Senate in Tuesday's election, would like nothing better than to wrap up their work for the year and go home.

But there will probably be no quick escape this year. There are must-pass spending bills to complete, tax relief measures that have expired and a new defense secretary to confirm. It could keep lawmakers in Washington until just before Christmas.

President Bush and the newly ascendant Democrats agreed that this Congress should knuckle down on unfinished legislation.

Bush, after meeting with congressional Republican leaders Thursday, urged Congress to pass spending bills, come together on pending offshore drilling legislation, act to legalize his warrantless eavesdropping program and approve a U.S.-India nuclear pact.

"That means the next few weeks are going to be busy ones," he said.

Bush, who is leaving next week for a trip to Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, also pressed for action on a bill to give Vietnam permanent normal trade relations.

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, who will become majority leader in January, wrote to the current majority leader, Sen. Bill Frist, outlining similar goals for the lame-duck session.

He also cited the need to pass a package of tax relief provisions that expired at the beginning of the year but which Congress has been unable to renew because of efforts to link the popular provisions to controversial bills unacceptable to one side or the other.

Lawmakers return on Monday for a busy week that includes orientation for the freshmen, dominated by Democrats, who will be sworn in when the 110th Congress begins in January. Both parties in the House and Senate will also elect new leaders for the next Congress, including Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., whose re-election as Democratic leader will put her in line to become the first woman Speaker.

The House is expected to take up the Vietnam bill early in the week, with hopes that the Senate will approve it as well while the president is in the Far East.

More problematic are the spending bills. Congress has so far passed only two of 11 spending bills for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1, for defense and homeland security programs. It has yet to deal with all other domestic programs, worth some $460 billion.