The Speaker’s Lobby: Happy New Year as shutdown showdown draws to a close

The Senate did not drag out final passage of the interim spending bill to end the government shutdown.Oh, you may think that happened. Especially after the Senate broke a filibuster on the bill just before 11 p.m. ET Sunday night. So why didn’t the Senate just go immediately to final passage? After all, the plan had to go to the House. Flight delays were piling up. Federal workers were at the end of their rope, going without paychecks. SNAP benefits were in limbo. So why not just step it up?Well, it’s more complicated than that. And believe it or not, the Senate kind of did step it up.At least