Congress: Enough, Already

In case you were wondering, there are people in Congress who are intent on getting back to business. Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) and Rep. Martin Meehan (D-Mass.) intend to reintroduce their campaign-finance-reform bill in the House next week. And believe it or not, the two men have a fair chance of getting both the attention and the cooperation of their colleagues. "There is much talk in the House of burying the hatchet," says TIME congressional correspondent John Dickerson. "The opportunity may arise over campaign reform. Not much needs to be done on it. There is a majority of votes for it."

The House already passed the Shays-Meehan bill in the last session, so it might not be too difficult to rally the troops on both sides of the aisle again. Passing the bill would put some meat behind the rhetoric of bipartisanship that dominated the opening of the new Congress. The obstacle this time, as it was last time, will undoubtedly be the Senate, where the legislation died last year. But even if the Senate fails to pass campaign reform again this year, the upper chamber may have its own opportunity to demonstrate that it too can salve wounds and move on following an impeachment trial. "The appetite for bipartisan activity in the Senate is focused on saving and reforming Social Security," says Dickerson. "Both parties there are for it." Maybe the realization of the Great American Dream -- Get On With It -- could be near.

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