Groundhog Day

So, it's been awhile since we checked in on how the Congress is handling the completion of the FY 2012 Appropriations process.  Remember, back in November, they passes a continuing resolution (CR) that would keep the government funded until December 16--in essence, they moved the goal posts, so that they could get the work that was supposed to be done by September 30 done.

Yep, it's still not done.  No surprise here.  This is how things have moved for the last several years.  With Christmas approaching, there is an extra bit of motivation for the Members to get the job done.  But, they still have time (It's only December 14th!).  We used to joke that once the spouses started demanding that they (the Members) get home for Christmas, things would get wrapped up.  Unfortunately for the staff who do the lion's share of the work that goes into these deals, last minute decisions aren't helpful.  These hardworking staff are left hanging.  It's hard to schedule travel when you don't know if the Congress will be going home, or if they'll have to be working until the 11th hour to get the job done.  I know...poor staff, but it is hard to plan when you are at the beck and call of your Member.  Some Members are better bosses than others, but when it's your issue that's at stake, you have to be there. Period.

So, here we are on December 14.  There is an omnibus agreement that the GOP Conferees have agreed to, but that the Democrats have not yet signed off on.  The sticking point has to do with the payroll tax.  The Dems are holding back their agreement until both sides come to terms on the extension of the payroll tax holiday.

The GOP is thinking about countering this move by bringing the conference agreement to the floor for a vote as a stand alone bill.

At this point, you're in the sausage factory.  Things are starting to churn, and are in the stage where in a blink, there will be a deal cut.  So, we might see this wrapped up by Friday.  If Members start to realize that there is no breaking the logjam, they might well be pushed into passing yet another CR that will push the decision deadline into the New Year. If I had to guess, optimistically I'd say that they'll get to Friday, think they are close to a deal and just need a few more days so they would only need a short-term CR to take them into early to mid-week next week.  Pure speculation on my part.  We'll see. 

It's really nice to be watching this from a distance...