If you read "Today in Congress" this morning, you were probably expecting to see a solid day's work in progress on the Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill on the House floor. But instead, if you're tuning into C-SPAN, you're seeing hearings, press conferences, etc. -- everything but the appropriations bill.

What's happened, apparently, is that the modified open rule for the bill was met by the GOP with a hail of 127 amendments, an untenable number that would make it impossible to get through the regular appropriations bills within the allotted time, should the trend continue.

Republicans, for their part, insisted that the inflated total was a response to the pre-printing requirement, and that Members filed every amendment they could think of just in case they thought they might later become necessary, since the rule wouldn't permit offering amendments as debate and discussion developed in real time. They claim that significantly fewer of the amendments would really have been offered.

The Democratic leadership wasn't taking their word for it, though, and has gone back to the Rules Committee for a new rule limiting the number of amendments permitted to a more manageable 44. But this, of course, has Republicans unhappy.

The House is currently in recess, subject to the call of the chair, and awaiting the opportunity to bring up this new, second rule for the appropriations bill.