Today in Washington D. C. - Dec 4, 2007

From Senate & News Sources: Despite all that Congress needs to do before the end of the year, Democrats used their first day back from recess yesterday to propose spending even more time on the same priorities that have left us with so little done: “changing course in Iraq” and partisan investigations. Roll Call reported yesterday that both House and Senate Democrats are interested in wasting even more time on subpoenas over their partisan obsession with the dismissal of U.S. attorneys which is both old and irrelevant - we have a new Attorney General!

Meanwhile, Democrats continue to hold troop funding hostage to their unacceptable withdrawal requirements. Roll Call reports today, “when he was asked Monday whether there was any chance this year that Democrats would pass an Iraq bridge fund with no strings attached, [Senate Majority Leader Harry] Reid responded, ‘I don’t think so.’ He also rejected the notion of trading ‘clean’ Iraq funding for domestic spending.”

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said in his remarks from the Senate floor yesterday, “Frankly, I’m baffled by the Congressional Democrats’ position in the whole troop-funding debate. Earlier in the year they said that sending more troops to Iraq would lead to failure, then they approved the funds anyway. Now they say things are going well, and they want to cut off the funds that are needed to finish the job. So they funded the war when they thought it would fail, and now they want to defund it when they think it’s succeeding. Does this make any sense?”

During a Rose Garden press conference yesterday, President Bush urged Congress to move forward on FISA reform legislation. In a conference call with bloggers, Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO), Vice Chair of the Intelligence Committee, discussed FISA reform and stressed the necessity of immunity provisions for telecommunications companies.

On the domestic front, Democrats continue their backroom negotiations on energy legislation. CQ Today reported that many lawmakers are particularly concerned about the inclusion of renewable energy mandates in the package.

On The Floor: The Senate reconvened at 10 AM today. Senate will resume consideration of the U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreement (H.R. 3688). The Senate will recess for weekly policy lunches between 12:30 and 2:15 PM today. At 2:15, Senators will vote on passage of the Peru free trade agreement.

As yet, there is no formal schedule for the balance of the week. Democrats had been hoping to take up FISA reform legislation (S. 2248) at the beginning of the week, but the Intelligence and Judiciary committees have produced competing bills, and have so far been unable to agree among themselves on a way to move forward.

Other possible action this week: the farm bill (H.R. 2419); the Democrats’ energy package (H.R. 6/H.R. 3221); possible is another vote on Iraq funding. If that happens, it could be on the $50 billion bridge funding bill that passed the House prior to Thanksgiving (H.R. 4156) and included withdrawal requirements and the Webb amendment, which would lock the DoD into a rigid troop deployment policy.

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