In the Senate, so far it's been a blue, blue Christmas

WASHINGTON — Capitol Hill may be decked out with festive lights and an impressive tree, but under the big dome, a sour mood has settled over a Senate stuck in session with nothing but legislative stalemates standing between lawmakers and their holiday recess.

"Merry Fristmas," congressional aides muttered as they passed each other in the chilly hallways, taking a dig at Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn.

For his part, Frist blamed Democrats and their "childish antics" for the delay three times in one news conference. For a while Wednesday, his spokesman sported a tie bearing an image of The Grinch (who stole Christmas).

Weighty policy matters hang in limbo on the eve of a midterm election year. A spending bill containing money for the military and Gulf Coast hurricane recovery included a provision to allow oil drilling in an Arctic wildlife refuge, an addition by Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, that infuriated senators of both parties. The move caused lawmakers to filibuster the measure at the risk of being accused of withholding support for U.S. troops and storm victims.

"I hope the good Lord will help me keep my temper," Stevens, the one wearing the Incredible Hulk necktie, said before Democrats and two Republicans blocked a vote on the package.

Glancing across the aisle at Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who had denounced the drilling measure, Stevens grumbled, "I asked for his apology once; I wouldn't accept it now." Stevens then threatened to keep the Senate in session through New Year's Day until the matter is settled. It wouldn't be the first time he rang in a new year on the Senate floor, he said.

Some lawmakers said they were outraged as much by Stevens' procedural hardball as by the prospect of oil and gas exploration in the Arctic.

"Shame!" scolded the dean of the Senate, Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va.

Bah humbug, indeed.

The poor humor in the Senate, some aides predicted, was nothing compared with what's expected from the House if all 435 members are called back into session to vote on Senate changes to legislation upon which they had already acted.

House members stampeded for their flights home earlier this week after an all-night session in which they completed action on the matters before them.

That marathon wasn't pretty, either, according to those who endured it. Members slumbered on sofas between votes; some aides admitted snoozing at their desks. As for eating, some staff members said it was best not to, considering the selection of cold takeout pizza, Chinese food and Christmas cookies.

Back on the Senate side, talk of vacation plans faded. Stevens, for one, said he had canceled his flight home.

Still, Byrd gave him a rhetorical hug. "I love this man from Alaska. I do. I love him," Byrd said on the floor, even as he disparaged Stevens' procedural moves. "I feel that my blood in my veins is with his blood. I love him, but I love the Senate more."