Departing Senate budget chiefs leave a legacy of bipartisanship in a fraught era
Just before leaving town for the year, the Senate of the 117th Congress stood and applauded the work and careers of two colleagues who were about to retire, Sens. Pat Leahy of Vermont and Richard Shelby of Alabama.
The gesture was a salute to the men as senators and as colleagues, to be sure. But there was an extra order of gratitude. Because in the days just before Christmas, as their parties' leaders on the Appropriations Committee, Leahy and Shelby had hammered out a spending bill that will fund the government through September.
That meant the Senate and House could go home feeling they had done the basic fiscal housekeeping that is their job. And if you think that happens every year, you have not been watching.
Over their combined 92 years on Capitol Hill, Leahy and Shelby were known for working quietly
