So the budget battle of 2006 will end with a whimper, not a bang. The new Democratic leadership wants to (CQ, $) extend the continuing resolution for the entire 2007 fiscal year, with some adjustments. Though not ideal, it's probably the best of all available options. It will:

• Impose a "moratorium" on earmarks, which could put the next Congress on a path toward more earmark reforms
• Remove a distraction for the new Congress, giving it more time to focus on an ambitious 100-hour agenda

Expect a long-term continuing resolution for the "punted" 2007 budget. Following announcements by the chairmen of the Appropriations Committees favoring a CR, Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Harry Reid issued this statement today:

On Friday we posted on a House vote to extend the term of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR). Keeping tabs on how the $38 billion pledged by the United States for Iraq Reconstruction is spent is the job of the SIGIR. Released over the weekend, this CBO report delves into the ins-and-outs of Iraq reconstruction finances, and on page 5 the CBO references the work of the SIGIR:

On Saturday morning, the President signed an extension of a stopgap continuing resolution, making few changes to its destructive funding formula. It will last until February 15th. CQ ($) reports: The stopgap spending measure does not contain major deviations from the funding formula in the previous resolutions, despite lobbying by veterans’ groups for $3 billion in additional veterans’ health care money. The resolution calls for agencies that have not yet had their fiscal 2007 appropriations measures enacted to get the lowest of the House-passed, Senate-passed or previous year funding level.