What began as a routine start to August in Washington, with representatives from both sides of the aisle returning to their home districts to campaign for this fall's election, was turned on its head last week as the Senate passed an aid package targeting cash-strapped states. Wary that these states might have to make further cuts in an election year, the Senate marshaled through a $26.1 billion aid package intended to stave off teacher layoffs and cuts in Medicaid services for the poor.

Critics of the bill have dubbed it "son of stimulus," claiming it's another cash dump out to the states and further spending in a time when the government needs to be fiscally responsible.

While Republicans forced the Democrats to slash nearly half of the aid the president was hoping to have approved, the GOP is still dismayed by what they see as money going into union coffers at the price of private sector jobs.

The aid earmarked for states would be an extension of programs in last year's $787 billion stimulus. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Republican governor of California, among others, had assumed the aid package would pass much earlier in the session.

As it turns out, the package passed the Senate 61-38 after the two GOP moderates from Maine, Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, broke their party's filibuster and ensured that the Democrats would have enough votes to overcome further procedural hurdles.

Special Session to Begin Monday

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) reconvened the House Monday morning for a special session on the bill. She plans to push the House to pass the bill despite her misgivings that a cut in food stamps and technology programs will help pay for the legislation.

While Senate counterparts have been touting the near 300,000 teaching and first responder jobs the state aid package is set to save, House Democrats are worried that given the deficit, any vote for further spending would be a nail in their proverbial political coffin.

Countering the calls that the majority party continues to spend money it doesn't have, some Democrats have fired back. They're leveraging the Bush-era tax cuts as collateral in a sign that Republicans put Democratic political failure above the nation's solvency on their list of priorities.

At least one Democrat has voiced his opinion. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-MN) said in a recent interview with the Star Tribune of Minneapolis, "I don't know how they're going to pass it," he said. "I haven't really checked with people, but there are a lot of guys who aren't going to vote for it."

Only time will tell whether returning to Washington and losing days of campaigning to vote on additional funding for the states will pan out for either party come this fall.