Today, Nov. 16, the 535 members of the 108th Congress reconvened to begin a post-election lame-duck session and complete their unfinished business. Their goal is to keep the session short and productive, yet this may be difficult as Republican leaders have failed to reach an agreement with the White House on a package that could bring the fiscal 2005 appropriations process to a quick conclusion.

Senate and House leaders hope to end the lame-duck session by the end of this week, so they will likely limit their work to completing the nine remaining FY 2005 appropriations bills, and increasing the debt limit. If there is a breakthrough between the House-Senate conferees on implementing the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, that too will be taken up. And there remains a possibility of working on other items that could be completed if there is unanimous consent or broad agreement. Some of these might be riders on the appropriations bill, and there has been discussion about passing the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

Congressional leaders, who failed to complete work on the appropriations bills by the end of the fiscal year, plan to package the nine remaining bills into one massive omnibus spending bill, which they hope lawmakers will approve early this week. Most of the work has been done behind closed doors over the past weeks by staff. One snag, however, is how to pay for additional programs -- the Senate wanted $8 billion more in spending -- and still remain within the overall $821.9 billion spending cap for the fiscal year. The White House and Republican leaders are trying to work out a deal, which will likely include an across-the-board spending cut. If such an agreement is not reached, Congress could instead pass a large continuing resolution (CR) to provide funding for the rest of the year for all agencies and programs that fall under the nine remaining bills. This strategy -- which in essence would provide funding for each program and agency -- is inefficient in that it runs the risk of not providing adequate resources to fully fund the necessary services. Ideally, each appropriations bill would have made it through conference separately before the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, avoiding the need for an omnibus spending bill or a CR. As congressional leaders scramble to finish business this week, keep in mind that countless programs and agencies are not receiving the debate and attention that is necessary when it comes to making key decisions on program funding levels.