After returning to work briefly, Congress has again recessed, until the week of December 4, without settling on a federal pay raise for January 2007. The increase almost certainly will be either 2.2 or 2.7 percent, but the full Senate still has not taken up the Transportation-Treasury appropriations bill that serves as the vehicle for the raise amount. That is one of many spending bills for the current fiscal year that remain pending. Before breaking, Congress passed another stopgap funding bill, good through December 8, for all departments and agencies whose regular appropriations bills haven’t passed—all but DoD and DHS. That measure provides funds at the lowest of the House, Senate or 2006 levels, restrictions that already are starting to cause budget-related problems at some agencies, including the Energy Department and Social Security Administration.