Congress is not in session this week, as lawmakers are home for Thanksgiving.  But they have left behind a mountain of work that seems impossible to finish by Christmas.

Even if you put aside all of the battles that could take place on whether to extend the Bush tax cuts, deal with the Alternative Minimum Tax, the so-called tax extenders, federal inheritance taxes and more, you could still spend weeks just battling over the budget.

The current fiscal year began on October 1.  How many of the 12 budget bills have been approved by the Congress?

Bzzzzzzt.  ZERO.  

The House approved two of 12 bills.  The Senate has not considered one spending bill on the floor this year.

Basically, Democrats decided to avoid bringing budget bills to the floors of the House and Senate, so they could avoid Republican amendments calling for spending cuts.

The Democrats might deny this - but that's what it boils down to.

Behind the scenes, Democrats have been putting together a 12-bill "omnibus", containing all of the budget bills, in hopes of jamming it all through before Christmas.

That has become the normal way to deal with the budget in recent years, as neither party seems to have the Congressional Cojones to get their work done before October 1, no matter what year it is and no matter which party is in charge.

The "Omnibus" exists on the hard drives of the House Appropriations Committee and the Senate Appropriations Committee, but it hasn't seen the light of day - and now probably will not.

Last week, Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell - who had given his tacit support to an omnibus - suddenly switched his position, as he had a few days earlier on the issue of banning earmarks (he was opposed, then he was for it.)

With that change of heart, it pretty much means any effort to get an Omnibus through Congress this year is dead, because Democrats won't have 60 votes in the Senate.

A temporary spending bill to keep the government running runs out on December 3, so lawmakers will have to approve another measure when they return to work next week.

Democrats still want to fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year - but Republicans only want to kick this budget can into next year - so that the GOP can then focus on immediate budget cutbacks.

So, along with the Bush tax cuts, and so many other tax issues, the Lame Duck Congress must still deal with the federal budget for the current fiscal year.

Sounds like a busy run to Christmas.