Although it was widely believed Congress would pass and the President would sign the $388 billion omnibus spending bill before Thanksgiving, it appears now the must-pass legislation will remain on hold until Dec. 6 when Congress will reconvene for a second lame-duck session to work on its passage. The bill, H.R. 4818, includes the nine remaining appropriations bills Congress left unfinished when the fiscal year ended, as well as numerous other riders and provisions.

The bill was not passed as expected because of a controversial rider that threatened the privacy of U.S. taxpayers' records by allowing some Congressional staffers the power to enter Internal Revenue Service (IRS) facilities and examine taxpayers' returns. The staff of Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND) discovered the provision, and in his floor statement on the subject Conrad stated, "That is an outrage. That is absolutely beyond the pale to allow staffers here the access to tax returns of any American citizen, of any American company with absolutely no civil or criminal penalties for the release of that private information. What is going on here that we have a stack of paper that has a little nugget like that stuck in?" House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) echoed Conrad's sentiments, saying "The Republican leadership forced through a so-called 'martial law' rule that required a same-day vote, preventing members of Congress from having enough time to read legislation that spent hundreds of billions of dollars and was thousands of pages long." She proposed requiring that lawmakers have a minimum of three days to read legislation before voting on it.

The House will reconvene Dec. 6 and the Senate Dec. 7 to pass a correcting bill. Meanwhile, Congress passed a continuing resolution that will fund all government programs and agencies through Dec. 8, extending the current CR, which runs through Dec. 3. It is undetermined how long the second lame-duck session will last. The spending bill process is further described in a New York Times article Nov. 24.

The $388 billion spending bill includes funding for thousands of faith-based and community organizations and other agencies and programs. The Compassion Capital Fund will receive $55 million to provide social service grants to charitable and religious organizations. That amount is half of what President Bush requested, but 15.3 percent more than in fiscal year 2004. The bill also funds abstinence programs, job training for the unemployed, education and substance abuse programs. For more information see Highlights of the Conference Report.