The House Judiciary Committee convened in mid-September to consider a constitutional amendment to balance the budget but failed to make headway on the proposal. When the committee met Sept. 22 to debate and vote on the measure, Democrats clearly demonstrated their opposition and offered several amendments, including one by John Conyers (D-MI) to exempt Social Security. The committee adjourned before voting on the amendment, and upon reconvening did not have a quorum, and thus could not complete the vote. There was brief speculation that the amendment would go straight to the House floor; however, it appears House Republicans have dropped their work on the amendment for now.

Congress voted to extend so-called "middle-class" tax reductions last week, and chose not to offset any of the cost of the $146 billion measure. In addition, the bill also includes $13 billion in tax cuts for businesses. When factoring in the additional interest costs, the bill will increase the deficit by over $200 billion.

After much speculation, and on the final day of the fiscal year, the House and Senate passed a continuing resolution (CR) (H.J. Res. 107) to fund non-defense government programs and agencies, and other expiring programs, at current levels through Nov. 20. The CR was needed because Congress failed to perform one of its key duties on time -- the appropriation of funds for government programs. Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (MD) observed, "The Republicans' failure to pass appropriation bills on time has real-world consequences to real people, to states, localities, municipalities, and every individual."