Two developments yesterday that are impacting the 2007 congressional end game this month. First, Democrats appear to have reached a deal (i.e. caved) on FY 2008 appropriations: From BNA ($): Democratic leaders agree in principle to try to meet President Bush's proposed spending target for the 2008 fiscal year, potentially setting aside one of the main stumbling blocks to a deal to wrap up a drawn-out fight over appropriations. However, the bill may not come up for consideration until next week. Despite the major concession by Democrats, other potential issues that could hinder a final agreement—short-term funding for the war in Iraq and various policy provisions—appear unresolved and a short-term continuing resolution is expected, to keep the government funded through Dec. 21 Also, the House has passed another fully paid-for, one-year AMT patch. Also from BNA ($): The House, in defiance of the White House and Senate, passes a second revenue-neutral patch for the AMT, but also—for the second time—fails to secure a veto-proof margin. The bill passes by 226-193, with three Democrats crossing party lines to vote with Republicans in opposition to the bill. So it looks right now that President Bush is getting his way on making cuts to important domestic investments that will negatively impact millions of Americans but make no difference in promoting fiscal responsibility and also may also get his way in actively opposing long-term fiscal responsibility by forcing Congress to pass another $50 billion tax cut that will add to the debt. It's dark times in Washington these days. Happy Holidays!

As Dana mentioned in his post earlier this morning, House Appropriations Chair David Obey is abandoning a "split the difference" approach to passing a budget, because the president is sticking to his guns and insisting that any budget presented by Congress total less than his $933 billion "top line" figure.

The White House is threatening to veto the latest appropriations gambit. What was it that Einstein said about people who try the same thing over and over again expecting a different result? Update: Stan Collender's insights into what happened.

If you were slightly sick to your stomach after reading Matt's post yesterday about a drastically under funded Food and Drug Administration and the risks posed to consumer safety, don't think you can get away from that feeling by taking the kids to Disney World this winter for a tropical getaway. The Washington Post published a great investigative report on safety inspections of rides at theme/amusement parks and traveling carnivals. The article uncovered that the Federal oversite agency responsive for inspecting the rides - the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) - is dangerously overworked and under funded compared to its mission and lacks sufficient authority to adequately ensure public safety. The Consumer Product Safety Commission, the federal agency responsible for regulating traveling carnival rides, has not required Wisdom or any other ride manufacturer to make safety improvements in the past eight years. After a meeting last year on the Sizzler's troubled safety record, the agency asked only that ride operators pay "greater attention to safety." The CPSC has no employee whose full-time job is to ensure the safety of such rides. The agency's 90 field investigators -- who oversee 15,000 products, work from their homes and live mostly on the East Coast -- are so overstretched that they frequently arrive at carnival accident scenes after rides have been dismantled. As a result, critics say, supermarket shopping carts feature a more standardized child-restraint system than do amusement rides, which can travel as fast as 100 mph and, according to federal estimates, cause an average of four deaths and thousands of injuries every year. Hmmmm...I feel like I've already seen this movie. What's worse, the article points out, is that the CPSC does not even have the authority to inspect larger, permanent parks - called "fixed-site" amusement parks - like Disney World and Six Flags: State regulators and ride safety advocates say that this record [of lack of inspections and safety problems] is emblematic of wider problems at the CPSC, whose lagging efforts to keep unsafe toys and other children's products from the marketplace have created a public outcry and have brought intense congressional scrutiny. Rulemaking by the agency has decreased during the Bush administration, and its officials say that budget and staffing constraints have made the commission vulnerable to industry pressure to adopt voluntary standards, or, in the case of fixed-site amusement park rides, no federal regulation. Despite Congress holding hearings on the CPSC and its budget and staffing issues, it is unclear if any change will come this year. With the appropriations process just about broken and Congress and the president continuing to argue over minute differences in funding, the CPSC continues to operate with inadequate resources and poor leadership. Enjoy your trip to Orlando.