Weekend Edition Sunday, December 24, 2006 · The recently departed 109th Congress left town without passing an appropriations bill -- one of the fundamental duties of the national legislature. What's behind it all?

News & Notes, December 14, 2006 · The 109th Congress may go down as one of the most partisan, and least productive, in history. Farai Chideya takes a closer look at the outgoing Congress with Melissa Harris Lacewell, an associate professor of political science at Princeton, and Robert George, an editorial writer with the New York Post.