"A blatant admission of abject failure by the most useless Congress in modern times."

GOP pushes tax bill through Congress

By ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 40 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Rejected by voters and limping off stage, the Republican-led Congress muscled through a sweeping bill reviving expired tax breaks, extending trade benefits for developing countries and protecting doctors from a big cut in Medicare payments.

The Senate cleared the bill for President Bush's signature early Saturday by a 79-9 vote. Final adjournment loomed.

But Republicans dumped an unfinished budget on the Democrats about to take power, with the Senate barely meeting a midnight deadline to pass a stopgap spending bill putting the government on autopilot until Feb. 15.

The failure to pass budget bills for domestic agencies, said Rep. David Obey (news, bio, voting record), D-Wis., amounted to "a blatant admission of abject failure by the most useless Congress in modern times."

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