Weigel

On November 30, the Senate passed the Food Safety Bill handily, overcoming some slow-walking from Republicans and -- this is really dog-bites-man at this point -- objections from Glenn Beck that the bill was part of a secret plot to increase vegetarianism. On December 1, House Democrats announced that the Senate had screwed up, because the bill had not originated in the House, as all revenue-raising bills must. In the words of Steny Hoyer, it was "not consistent with the Constitution of the United States."

So! Democrats solved the problem with a kludge, and added the Food Safety Bill to the omnibus spending bill. You will recall what happened to the omnibus spending bill. Consumer safety attorney Bill Marler lays out the options for survival.

- A Continuing Resolution (a.k.a. the CR with the Food Safety Bill attached), an alternative to the Ominibus Spending Bill, is passed between today and Saturday (when the government apparently runs out of cash to continue operating), but this requires getting past Sen. Coburn's fillibuster threat and a revote in the House; or,

- A shorter Continuing Resolution (like for a few months with the Food Safety Bill attached), but again, I assume that this has the same requirement as 2 - possible, but not likely.

I can't yet confirm that Democrats are trying either of these tricks which, remember, were made necessary by a total screw-up.