And there's much more that could well get stuffed through in the next two weeks.

This evening, Republicans will set in motion the parliamentary work needed to set up a vote as early as Tuesday on a GOP bill that extends the payroll tax cut for a year, but also contains a bunch of other items, like approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

House Speaker John Boehner has told colleagues that if all this work isn't finished by the end of this week, then things could get "very, very messy" in that last week before Christmas.

Unfortunately, that's just sort of standard operating procedure for both parties in recent years; a year ago this week it was Democrats unveiling an Omnibus budget bill in the Senate, one that was stuffed with bipartisan pork (that story at http://is.gd/DrskxE to refresh your memory.)

The last two years, the Congress has been in session on Christmas Eve, finishing work for the year.

At this rate, votes on Friday December 23 don't seem far fetched.