The House has been steadily moving forward with appropriations bills, in spite of the tight cap on appropriations spending for 2004; but in the Senate only one bill -- Defense -- has passed, and only one other bill -- Homeland Security -- has even gotten through a full Senate committee. None has made it to the Senate floor.

Little time remains in this pre-election congressional session -- only 14 days in July and only 19 days in September. The new fiscal year of 2005 begins October 1, 2004. What seems to be the problem?

• Last week Senate Appropriations Chairman Ted Stevens (R-AK) cancelled nine subcommittee markups. According to a Congressional Quarterly report, the purpose was to keep the markups from being available for public scrutiny over the summer break. Given the tight budget cap necessitating cuts or, at most, level funding of a number of programs and services, advocates would be able to highlight and garner public support against cuts in widely supported programs. Politically unpopular cuts, like inadequate funding of healthcare for veterans while fighting continues in Iraq and Afghanistan, could become political issues.
• Before proceeding with appropriations, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) is determined to get agreements with Democrats limiting the time for floor debate of appropriations bills. The time limits would protect these from the addition of numerous amendments, including those with political overtones.
• Senate leadership may, all along, have been anticipating wrapping all the appropriations bills into an omnibus bill, rather than debating each bill (and allowing the cuts to be more publicly known).
• Meanwhile, with so many important matters facing Congress this week, lawmakers are set to squander considerable time debating and voting on the completely symbolic proposed constitutional ban on gay marriage, which nearly everyone agrees cannot pass. The sole purpose is to build some members' political currency with constituents over the July/August break.

There had been talk of the Senate wrapping the remaining ten appropriations bills into an omnibus bill and attaching it to the Homeland Security appropriations bill for passage before the July/August break. Now it seems less likely that Homeland Security will move before the summer break, in spite of some mutterings about the failure to pass Homeland Security, given the recent warnings about terrorist threats this summer. Homeland Security will remain a possible vehicle to carry the omnibus bill come September.

What does all this boil down to? It's an election year, so election posturing takes precedence over getting the substantive work of funding the government done. In the same vein, the majority has continued to use strong-arm tactics, as during the extended debate about amending the Patriot Act last week, which have even further divided Congress. This makes it difficult for Congress to work cooperatively on much of anything.

Finally, lawmakers have a number of amendments they would like to see attached to some bill and there is a very short time with few opportunities to do so. These include amendments to block the Department of Labor overtime rules, increase the minimum wage (Sen. Kennedy tried but failed to attach an amendment to the class action bill raising the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.00), reduce greenhouse gasses, legalize the re-importation of drugs from outside the US, and extend the ban on assault weapons. Congress also still must pass an increase in the statutory debt limit. The majority would prefer to do so as an amendment buried in another bill, rather than make an issue of it. (Republican leaders tried to get the debt limit increase into the Defense appropriations bills, but failed).

Probably only the Defense appropriation, which is almost ready to be sent for the President's signature, will become law before the July/August break. It may also be the only one of the 13 appropriations bills to be considered alone. It now seems that the real appropriations work will be delayed until after Congress returns -- or maybe even until after the elections, with continuing resolutions instead funding government through a "lame duck" session of Congress.