The Republican-controlled US<\p>Congress is staggering home for the holidays. Democrats, demoralised after last year’s election losses, have a spring in their step after outmanoeuvring President Bush and GOP congressional leaders in a series of session-ending clashes.

“This has been the saddest day of my life,” Alaska Republican Sen. Ted Stevens lamented at one point, mourning the demise of legislation to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.

The drilling issue has been a crusade of the 82-year-old Alaska lawmaker for more than a quarter-century. It was a White House priority, as well, and Bush made its enactment part of a first-term energy policy.

Stevens and other supporters had a shaky majority for the legislation, but critics skilfully used their political leverage and arcane congressional rules to thwart passage. Efforts to include it in a broad deficit-cutting bill were abandoned at the insistence of House GOP moderates, who made its removal a price of their support for changes in Medicare, Medicaid and the student loan programme. The leadership agreed reluctantly, deciding in effect that saving the deficit cuts was a higher priority.

Next came the decision to attach the oil drilling legislation to a bill for defence spending. Which in turn gave Democrats a new opportunity to attack it, and also permitted a filibuster that eventually killed it.

“Our military is being held hostage by this issue,” said Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid.

In control of the agenda, Republicans had their share of success in the year-end drive for adjournment.

Democrats had to accept legislation that will mean less spending than a year ago across hundreds of social programs. House conservatives won a one percent across-the-board cut in federal spending, only veterans’ programmes exempted.

And Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist prevailed over strong Democratic protests on legislation giving broad protection against lawsuits to vaccine manufacturers. That was part of a measure to prepare for a possible outbreak of avian flu.

But Republican and Bush — who was buffeted by controversy over warrantless spying — faltered at other points. They were forced to accept a short-term extension of the Patriot Act they had insisted was unacceptable.

“I made it very clear that I oppose a short-term extension,” said Frist at one point, not long after a Democratic-led filibuster blocked passage of a renewal of the anti-terror law.

“The president will not sign such an extension,” he added at another.

With Bush struggling in the public opinion polls, GOP lawmakers made it clear they thought the issue would work to their advantage politically.

Republican Sen. Jon Kyl noted the partisan breakdown of the vote on ending the filibuster. “If 90-plus percent of the Democrats vote against...and 90-plus percent of the Republicans vote for.... it is hard to argue it is not partisan,” he said.

Any political concerns harboured by Senate Democrats were muted, and four conservative Republicans played a prominent role in blocking passage. “We need to be more vigilant,” said Sen. John Sununu of New Hampshire, who said the White House-backed bill failed to protect civil liberties sufficiently.

In the end, Frist retreated, agreeing to a six-month extension.

Republicans “tried to play a game of chicken, and they lost the game of chicken,” exulted Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold.

Another GOP priority, legislation to cut nearly $40 billion from deficits over the next five years, passed the Senate on the final full business day of the session, but only after GOP leaders made a series of expensive concessions, and only after Democrats forced minor changes that will require a new vote in the House — next year.

In the end, the savings in the bill amounted to $39.7 billion over five years, $4 billion or so less than when the weekend began.

Even then, five Republicans defected and Vice President Dick Cheney had to fly back from overseas to cast the deciding vote.

The House earlier vote was 212-206, and the two Democratic leaders, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, achieved a rare feat — not a single member of their rank and file voted for the GOP legislation. — Associated Press