SUDDENLY, STIMULUS: Congress must have surprised even itself yesterday, moving with alacrity to complete work on and adopt the biggest stimulus package ever and send it to the president. Of course, the package wasn't paid for so there wasn't much heavy lifting. The legislative process took less than a month... NO UI... Conspicuously absent from the package is a stimulus staple -- extension of unemployment insurance (UI) benefits. The UI proposal could have gone either way. It would have cost very little -- nothing at all in FY08 and $3.6 billion over ten years. And it's pure stimulus -- almost no other kind of spending gets, well, spent so fully and fast. But, as Secretary Paulson likes to point out, the unemployment rate is 4.9 percent right now, a low point. But have a look at the chart (shaded areas indicate periods of recession; click on image to enlarge). Look at what happens right after these low points. (Now, what was your point again, Mr. Paulson?) BELATED BUDGET: Not so fast on the budget front. "My gut tells me that for the average politician in this town, whether it's the president's budget or Congress' budget, it will be looked upon as a holding pattern and let's wait to next year," G. William Hoagland, a longtime GOP budget aide, told CQ ($). OMB Director Jim Nussle put a smiley face on this year's budget process, testifying at a House Budget Committee hearing this week: It would be obviously concerning that again the process may deteriorate as it did last year, to either the last minute or a train wreck or however you want to call it... I'm a Chicago Cubs fan, but I'm not that pessimistic. There was agreement on one point. Nussle acknowledged during the hearing that the administration's tax reform proposals were "fairly dead on arrival" with Congress...