The Hill:

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Friday that the administration will seek access to the second half of the funds in the $700 billion rescue package to continue stabilizing financial markets.

With the $17.4 billion package to prop up General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC announced on Friday, the government has allocated the first $350 billion of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

The request for the rest of the funds will likely set off a bruising political fight in Washington, with Democrats and Republicans alike highly critical of how the funds have been used so far. Democrats have repeatedly pushed for billions of dollars to go toward a plan to reduce foreclosures and help the housing market.

I don't know how bruising I think this will really end up being. I think lots of people on Capitol Hill would like for it to be bruising, but I don't know that they'll really put up the fight they once envisioned, and maybe no fight at all. At least not until after the fact.

You know they're going to say the whole world will burst into flames and we're all gonna die if they don't get the money. And you also know that the only way to stop them from getting the money is to pass a resolution disapproving the disbursement. And despite all the talk, they're just not all that likely to do that.
Here's the process as it's spelled out in the bailout law:

SEC. 115. GRADUATED AUTHORIZATION TO PURCHASE.

     (a) Authority- The authority of the Secretary to purchase troubled assets under this Act shall be limited as follows:

           (1) Effective upon the date of enactment of this Act, such authority shall be limited to $250,000,000,000 outstanding at any one time.

           (2) If at any time, the President submits to the Congress a written certification that the Secretary needs to exercise the authority under this paragraph, effective upon such submission, such authority shall be limited to $350,000,000,000 outstanding at any one time.

           (3) If, at any time after the certification in paragraph (2) has been made, the President transmits to the Congress a written report detailing the plan of the Secretary to exercise the authority under this paragraph, unless there is enacted, within 15 calendar days of such transmission, a joint resolution described in subsection (c), effective upon the expiration of such 15-day period, such authority shall be limited to $700,000,000,000 outstanding at any one time.

So as soon as the President transmits his written report detailing the "plan" of the Secretary, the Congress has 15 days to pass a resolution saying no. After which the President will veto the resolution, and they'll need a 2/3 vote to override the veto. So really they have less time than that, since they'll have to enact it -- i.e., override the veto -- within 15 days. And the president can eat 10 of those days before vetoing, anyway. So they've got about five days to get it done, and in fact, the law requires that the resolution be:

introduced not later than 3 calendar days after the date on which the report of the plan of the Secretary referred to in subsection (a)(3) is received by Congress

The law itself provides for fast track consideration in both houses, and protection in the Senate from filibuster. In fact, it even mandates that the Congress reassemble within two days of the transmission of the President's report. So if he really wants to stick it to them, he'll send that report over pronto, and force the Congress to spend their holidays in session trying to come up with an impossible 2/3 vote to stop the rest of this crap from going down the toilet.

Do you think they'll stick around to fight it out? Who would they have to blame but themselves if they didn't want to? These are their own rules.

Should be an interesting last few weeks of the lame duck presidency. Which pretty much adds up to a failure from this side of the aisle. This should have been the deadest, quietest period ever for this White House. Instead they've got unfettered control of more money and more power than at any time in the last eight years.