The bill ended up stalling on the Senate desk after senators closed their session early last week.

Both of these senators managed the expectations game brilliantly. They laid low, they learned the Senate, they waited to get their assignments from the leadership, and they hit 'em out of the park.

We commend Senators [Michael] Enzi and [Edward] Kennedy and their colleagues for their leadership in the Senate and ensuring that this much-needed relief (ensuring the equitable and religiously sensitive treatment of parochial schools) was contained in the appropriations package.

We are all very pleased with the unanimous vote by the Senate.

Today, the Senate took an important step forward in cutting the deficit. I commend Senate leadership and the other senators who supported this spending-reduction legislation,

[Other Republicans echoed Specter's dismay.] I am disappointed that Gov. William Weld did not receive a hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, ... The advice and consent procedure provided by our Constitution strongly suggests that many Senators will want to question a presidential nominee and that the nominee will have an opportunity to respond to public questions and criticism.