Congress Adjourns Surprisingly Productive Lame Duck Session

The House and Senate adjourned today after a surprisingly productive lame duck legislative session.  With expectations low and a history of playing below even low expectations, President Obama and Democrats in the Senate ignored the fringe of their party and actually sought common ground with Republicans on critical taxes legislation. The tax deal was derided by a loud but small portion of House Democrats and the current (but not future) Speaker.  The bill was a compromise by both parties and passed by an overwhelmingly bipartisan 81-19 vote in the Senate and an equally impressive vote in the House of 277-148, with 139 Democrats joining 138 Republicans to pass the bill. The Federal funding for the rest of the year was a step back from status quo and probably not exactly where we would have liked, but again it was passed by an overwhelmingly bipartisan margin of 79-16 in the Senate. The holiday spirit was not carried forward in the House where only 19 Republican members voted for the bill. The end of year cheer produced many other smaller pieces of legislation that had been waiting for Congressional approval like the 9/11 bill, the reauthorization of the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act mentioned below and approval of the START treaty. We are still not sure what this means for next year, but now the president has a taste for winning through compromise.