No sooner has the 108th Congress Senate convened, the body degenerated into partisan bickering. Despite the fact that Republicans regained the majority in the Senate, exploitation by Democrats of Senate procedural rules is preventing Republicans from regaining committee chairmanships and preventing the assignment of all new Senators to committees. It is impossible at this stage to determine which, if any, approach to agricultural disaster assistance will make it to the president's desk or when that might happen.