Congress leaves, but unfinished agenda waits until next year

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress pushed a pile of unfinished work into the new year, even after delivering a couple of presents to President Bush before leaving for the holidays.

With the halls of the Capitol virtually empty, lawmakers managed to send two final bills to the White House on Thursday. One bill rolled a massive defense spending bill together with $29 billion in aid for the hurricanedamaged Gulf Coast, $50 billion for action in Iraq and Afghanistan, and money to battle a potential bird flu outbreak.

A second measure kept key anti terrorism powers, set to expire Dec. 31, in place until Feb. 3. It allows the FBI to continue to investigate terrorism cases using powers granted in 2001, include roving wiretaps and the authority to intercept wire, spoken and electronic communications relating to terrorism.

One of the most contentious of Congress' unfinished items, a package shaving nearly $40 billion off future government spending, was left until next year for a final vote. Lawmakers also will need to tackle unfinished tax bills when they return.

The short-term extension of the USA Patriot Act means lawmakers must debate again in January the merits of government anti-terrorism powers that some critics fault for not protecting innocent Americans' civil liberties. Bush and GOP leaders pushed hard for a permanent extension of the expiring provisions but could not overcome a Senate filibuster.

Thursday's action ended a congressional year complicated by standoffs with Democrats and disagreements among Republicans.

Bush and the GOP lost their campaign to open Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling when drilling authority was stripped out of the defense spending bill. The change also eliminated roughly $2 billion in emergency aid for low-income families facing high heating bills this winter.

Three Senate Republicans secured a promise from GOP and Democratic leaders to enact $2 billion in emergency funding for heating assistance in January, after the Senate votes on Samuel Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court.

Democrats registered their unhappiness with the tangled maneuvering that the GOP used to finally complete legislative work.

The delay in dealing with the deficit-reduction package gives Democrats and other opponents more time to make political waves over the proposed curbs in federal entitlement programs like Medicare and Medicaid. House conservatives did win a 1 percent across-the-board cut in discretionary federal spending.