A VERY Late Night for the House

Of Representatives, that is. I'm on my way to bed around 0115 this morning and click the channel one up from the Weather Channel to C-SPAN. I was very surprised to see the House in session at 0315 EST, and a little "live" logo in the upper right corner of the screen, so I know it's not taped.

And guess who I saw?

My favorite congresswoman...Nancy Pelosi! What a rare treat! Ms. Pelosi read me a nursery rhyme before I turned in, from Mother Goose ...

Christmas is a comin' and the geese are getting fat
Please put a penny in a poor man's hat
If you haven't got a penny, a ha'penny will do
If you haven't got a ha'penny, then God Bless You!

Wow! Thanks, Nancy! I immediately turned the TV off just as she began her anti-Rethuglican rant and went to sleep. I did catch her saying something about "Shame! Shame!" before the remote went {click}...

But the House stayed up...all the way past 0600, according to the NYT. There were some positive results.

Working through the night, the House early today voted to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling as part of a military measure and narrowly approved a $40 billion budget-cutting plan as bleary-eyed lawmakers concluded a marathon weekend session.

The Pentagon spending bill, adopted on a 308-106 vote shortly after 5 a.m., also included a $29 billion hurricane recovery package for the Gulf Coast, a $3.8 billion proposal to prepare for a potential flu pandemic and a 1 percent across-the-board cut that shaved a total of about $8 billion from current federal spending.
...

The budget cuts were approved 212-206 just after 6 a.m. After assembling the budget plan Sunday, congressional Republicans had pegged the savings over five years at nearly $42 billion but last-minute changes on health and agricultural policy made to attract more votes lowered the figure to $39.7 billion - about $10 billion below the initial House target. The Senate could take the measure up as early as today.

It's nice to see our Congresspeople hard at work to get things wrapped up before the holidays. Things that should have been done, oh, say, TWO MONTHS AGO. But, what the Hay. Everyone needs to pull an all-nighter every once in a while. Impresses the Hell out of the constituents, I suppose.