Senator Harry Reid’s push for the omnibus spending bill rather than a resolution to continue current spending until the new Congress begins is unsurprising.  Pushing (rushing) this and other major legislation in a lame duck session continues the disgraceful record of the Senate under Mr. Reid.  He and his colleagues don’t respect the median voter.  They view the electorate as a giant piggy bank that can be tapped to spend billions and billions on projects for their supporters.   We should amend the constitution to prevent such lame duck mischief.  But that won’t happen.

President Obama could score some points with independents if he were to quash the omnibus spending bill and put off consideration of the START treaty until the new Congress is in session.  He’ll need those points in 2012.