Friday, Oct. 25, 2002 | 5:03 a.m.
THE HALLS OF halls of Congress were tranquil last week, the din of pre-election partisan bickering hushed.
Lawmakers had split town to campaign in their districts, leaving piles of work behind for a post-election "lame-duck" session next month.
The sessions are never pretty, as retired and defeated lawmakers limp back to Washington for a few anti-climactic weeks, with campaign battle wounds festering.
One main reason they'll bother coming back at all is their failed effort to complete the annual, delicate business of spending the nation's money -- those federal tax dollars you mailed in April.
Unfinished are the 13 appropriations bills that keep the federal government and all its departments chugging along. The bills contain budgets for a dizzying array of agencies and programs: the Pentagon, national parks, post offices, federal school programs, the Bureau of Land Management and the other agencies that manage most of the state of Nevada.
In rare years -- 1977, 1989, 1997 -- Congress finished the bills on time, by Oct. 1, the beginning of the fiscal year.
This year they didn't come close, completing just two of 13 so far ($355 billion for Department of Defense and $10.5 billion for military construction).
Much of the blame lands on old-fashioned partisan gridlock and high-tension before a high-stakes election.
"It's as simple as Republicans want to spend less and Democrats want to spend more," Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said.
And Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., points the finger at President Bush for backing an ill-timed tax cut, refusing to compromise with congressional leaders and generally presiding over a nation sinking into a budget deficit.
"President Bush has driven the economy into a hole," Reid said. "The Senate doesn't deserve any of the blame."
Most people outside the Beltway scarcely noticed the dust-ups. That's by design -- lawmakers know better than to allow for a government shutdown that embitters voters.
To keep the wheels turning, lawmakers, as they often do come Oct. 1, have passed a series of temporary "concurrent resolutions" that keep the money flowing -- salaries and operating budgets are frozen at last fiscal year's levels. The latest continuing resolution will keep the government's lights on until Nov. 22.
But federal agencies -- the FBI and NASA, for example -- won't know what their budgets are until Congress makes decisions about spending bills. That makes it tough to plan. Much of Washington is in a holding pattern.
And, to a degree, so are the states, which depend on federal dollars for everything from interstate maintenance to pork projects. Consider a few examples:
Depending on how bruising the elections turn out, the lame-duck Congress could pass a few, maybe none, of the remaining spending bills.
They could also roll some of the spending bills into one big omnibus bill, which is often an excuse for crazed spending sprees.
"So much garbage gets thrown in at the end that you end up spending more than anyone ever wanted," Ensign explained.
The new Congress would be left to sort out unfinished spending bills in January. Lawmakers would have to start over with the remaining bills, or they could just freeze spending at current levels until next October.
One thing is clear. Distracted by politicking -- and to be fair, important issues like national security, a pending war and a lackluster economy -- politicians this year have so far bungled one of their most important duties. Spending our money.
How lame.
Postscript: Washington mourned the loss of one of the Senate's most liberal and passionate voices Friday when Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., died in a plane crash. A few months ago he and I happened to be walking out of a Senate Office building at the same time.
Making small talk and without introducing myself, I told him I was getting married in his state in November. His aide, in an apparent hurry with the senator, rolled his eyes. But Wellstone's face lit up -- he loved to talk about his state and peppered me with questions about the wedding. Finally he shook my hand vigorously and begged, "Tell me: what is your name?" When I told him, he looked at me, squinted and smiled. He seemed to be making a genuine effort to remember my name and face. The Senate won't soon forget Paul Wellstone.
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