House gets back to work
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Action on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives resumed Friday afternoon after nearly four hours of procedural wrangling between Democrats and Republicans stopped work on outstanding legislation just before the congressional August recess.
While no formal resolution of the dispute between Republicans and Democrats was reached, senior aides in both parties acknowledge that a heavy schedule and desire to leave for the traditional recess were the main factors in reconvening.
A bill providing $250 million in emergency funds to recover from the bridge collapse in Minneapolis will be the first bill up for a vote on Friday. The Department of Defense appropriations bill is expected to pass Friday night, and time has also been set aside to debate a new intelligence bill, if an agreement on that legislation can be reached between congressional Democrats and the Bush administration.
The energy bill is expected to be debated in the House on Saturday. If that bill is approved, the House will recess for August.
House Democrats acknowledge that their timetable is shaky because they expect that many of their Republican counterparts are still upset about a disputed vote tally Thursday night.
–CNN Congressional Producer Evan Glass
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The Democrats insisted the Iraqi Congress not take a summer recess but our Congress is set to leave for an August recess without finishing its business. The intelligence bill needs completion and I hope that if they do recess Bush calls them back into session.
It just seems a little odd to me that Bush has waited until now to put this pressure on the Dems. When the matter of this should have been taking up directly after 9/11. The Dems. are not going to keep giving Bush everything he needs. This bill is not cut and dry, and it needs to be thorough so it is in the best interest for the future and not what is in Bush's best interest. If the Dems. could take a stand on some issue they might get something done.
Then the Democrats should not have wasted all this time on trying to convict every Republican in sight. Dumb fools!!!
I think the Democratic congress gives too much leadway to the republicans. They forget who made them the 110th Congress and why they were put in there to begin with. My message to the Democratic congress, stop giving the Republicans and the Bush Administration what they want and do what the people who voted you in want you to do.