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The House will be in session next Monday to pass the fiscal 2004 omnibus spending bill before leaving for the remainder of the year, while the Senate expects to return one day later to make an effort to get a unanimous consent agreement to take up the omnibus.

Objections are expected from both sides of the aisle, according to a spokeswoman for Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., meaning final action on the remaining seven appropriations bills that were wrapped into the omnibus will be delayed until early next year.

The omnibus bill includes the Transportation-Treasury appropriations bill, which contains language granting white-collar federal employees a 4.1 percent average pay raise in 2004.

There are no scheduled roll call votes in the Senate and it is unlikely efforts will be made to seek agreements on floor time for either class action reform or pension legislation, said a spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn. Agreements were made in the waning hours of last week on these two items, but much work remains, aides said.

Frist will be giving a speeches in Tennessee this week, and will also travel to New York to participate in a Christmas charity program, a spokesman said. Daschle will be in New York Tuesday to promote his new book on the "Charlie Rose Show" and Comedy Central's "Daily Show," his spokeswoman said. He will be in South Dakota the rest of the week for book signings and fundraisers.

Besides voting on the omnibus, the House is expected next Monday to cast a final vote on a bipartisan bill to combat unsolicited commercial e-mail, a spokesman for Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., said Monday. A compromise version of the "Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act" passed the House last month on a 392-5 vote.

The Senate, which had unanimously approved its version of the bill in October, signed off on the House changes last Tuesday. But the Senate made minor technical changes that require another House vote before Congress can send the bill to President Bush, according to a spokeswoman for Senate Commerce Communications Subcommittee Chairman Conrad Burns, R-Mont.

COMMENTS

• Congress will never get their act together unless it becomes in their best interest to do so. Therefore, let's make it in their best interest. How about passing a law that if Congress has not passed all budgetary/appropriation bills by 9/30, they, and their staffers, do not get paid until they pass all of them -- AND there is no back pay to make up for the time between 9/30 and bill passage. GovExec.com reader Posted December 4, 2003 7:16 AM
• As usual Congress places campaigning for themselves and others above doing their current jobs. If all workers did their jobs with the same disregard for consequences as the members of Congress do then the economy would be in even worse trouble. Denise Smith Posted December 2, 2003 1:20 PM
• This is a prime example of the inept manner in which the federal government works (or doesn't work). Appropriations and authorizations are the major function of Congress. One quarter of the fiscal year has passed and there is no budget for several US Government agencies. How can the executive agencies work effectively with this kind of incompetence in Congress. Ted Stevens and Mr Young should be ashamed of themselves for this situation and Congress should be penalized. I suggest reducing their pay by 10% for lack of performance - that is what they think the DoD should do for its folks. Assuming Congress can pass an authorization and appropriation by January 2004, the money probably will not be available to the agencies until Feb at best and then has to be distributed within the agencies after that before it gets to the working level. DoD has had an appropriation for months and I still have not received a distribution, which our money people tell me that I might see by 7 Dec. It is totally ridiculous to hold performance of government employees as the measure of pay increases when the most basic of management tools (the budget) is not even passed by Congress until four or five months into the fiscal year and the actual distributions are not received until almost half the year is gone! Congress should be passing the fiscal 2005 budget right now and not working on the fiscal 2004 appropriation - now they are behind on fiscal 2005. Too bad votes are not based on Congressional performance! GovExec.com reader Posted December 2, 2003 7:02 AM