This past week, we saw news of a skirmish between Chinese and U.S. boats in the South China Sea. Five Chinese ships harassed and maneuvered close to a U.S. Navy ship, the USNS Impeccable.

The Impeccable sprayed one ship with water from fire hoses to force it away. Its crew members stripped to their underwear, according to news reports, and came to within 25 feet of the U.S. ship.

Not sure what’s up with the stripping down business, but Congress is weighing in on what is a serious incident on one of the world’s most important strategic waterways. H. Con. Res. 72 is a concurrent resolution introduced last week to condemn any action of the People’s Republic of China that could unnecessarily escalate tensions between China and the U.S., including the South China Sea skirmish.

Here’s the current vote on H. Con. Res. 72. Click to vote, comment, learn more, or edit the wiki article about the bill.

While a financial bailout proposal is debated among congressional leaders, silly season continues. The House has been passing bills hand over fist. Here are the bills that went to the floor on Friday, including a bill to spend more than $500 per U.S. family. Up later today, the bills that raced through the House Saturday . . .

S. 2982
The Runaway and Homeless Youth Protection Act
Costs $6.64 per family

H.R. 7112
To impose sanctions with respect to Iran, to provide for the divestment of assets in Iran by State and local governments and other entities, and to identify locations of concern with respect to transshipment, reexportation, or diversion of certain sensitive items to Iran

H.R. 7081
To approve the United States-India Agreement for Cooperation on Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy, and for other purposes

H.R. 7110
Making supplemental appropriations for job creation and preservation, infrastructure investment, and economic and energy assistance for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2009, and for other purposes
Costs $547.01 per family

S. 1046
The Senior Professional Performance Act of 2007
Costs $0.05 per family

H.R. 4120
The Effective Child Pornography Prosecution Act of 2007

S. 2932
The Poison Center Support, Enhancement, and Awareness Act of 2008

S. 1382
The ALS Registry Act
Costs $0.62 per family

H.R. 7060
The Renewable Energy and Job Creation Tax Act of 2008

H.R. 3068
The Federal Protective Service Guard Contracting Reform Act of 2007
Costs: $0.00 per family

H.R. 6045
The Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Act of 2008

. . . and someone in Congress wants them to pay their own way.

H.R. 6812 would prohibit United States foreign assistance to countries with budget surpluses.

Here’s the current vote. Click to vote, comment, learn more or edit the wiki article.

“If China wants to ‘look good’ for the Olympics they should ‘pay up.’”

So says commenter “Bob” on the page for Senate Concurrent Resolution 78, which would express the sense of Congress that the People’s Republic of China should disclose the selective default status of certain bonds to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

This refers to a long-standing dispute between China and the holders of bonds issued by the pre-communist government of China. These bonds, referred to as “Chinese Government 5% Reorganization Gold Loan” bonds, were due to mature in 1960. The government of China apparently has refused to acknowledge demands for payment by the bondholders and says it has no obligation to compensate these creditors.

So maybe China should have taken some of that money from the drummers and the dancers and used it to pay these bond obligations!

Here’s the current vote on Senate Concurrent Resolution 78. Click to vote, comment, learn more, and edit the wiki article on the bill.

Georgia has been at odds with its larger neighbor, Russia, since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. The country has a population of about 4.5 million, some of whom may have a stronger allegiance to Moscow than the Georgian capitol, Tblisi. Fighting broke out today between the two countries.

A number of bills dealing with the Republic of Georgia have been introduced in the current Congress, and at least one has passed.

Public Law 110-17 is called the “NATO Freedom Consolidation Act of 2007.” It endorsed further enlargement of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and sought to facilitate the timely admission of new members to NATO. The law authorized spending to give security assistance to Georgia, among other countries.

Many more bills would affect Russia, which is much larger, and with which our country has a much more complex relationship.

Here’s the current vote on Public Law 110-17, the NATO Freedom Consolidation Act of 2007. Click to vote, comment, learn more, or edit the wiki article on the bill.

I had to do a double-take when I first saw this bill.

H.R. 6615 would “provide for the transport of the enemy combatants detained in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to Washington, D.C., where the United States Supreme Court will be able to more effectively micromanage the detainees by holding them on the Supreme Court grounds . . . .”

OK, I get it.

Some member of Congress doesn’t like the Supreme Court’s rulings on treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay and decided to introduce a bill to makes a symbolic point: “Well if the dang Supreme Court wants these guys treated well, they should have to serve ‘em sandwiches and sweet tea right there in their own offices!”

I like sarcasm and irony and all, but on balance I think this annoys me. For a symbolic gesture, this guy put his staff to work, he put the House parliamentarian to work, he put the Government Printing Office to work, and the committees of jurisdiction too (Armed Services and Judiciary).

This is taking the legislative process very unseriously. It wastes a lot of people’s time and money.

So, Louie Gohmert, leave it out next time. There are people who differ with the Supreme Court’s rulings, and they offer serious legislation and serious arguments. They’re doing they’re jobs as they see them, not monkeying around with taxpayers’ money on stunts that they think will make cheap political points.

Reserving my right to applaud abuses of the legislative process that are actually clever, here’s the current vote on the bill. Click to vote, comment, learn more, or edit the wiki article on the bill.

The Congressional Budget Office came out with a cost estimate today for S. 3297, the Advancing America’s Priorities Act, which has also been called the “Coburn Omnibus.” It combines 36 pieces of federal legislation into one.

Yesterday, adding up all the pieces of the Coburn Omnibus, we came up with about $65 per U.S. family. When we crunch the CBO estimate into its per-family cost, we get just over $70.00.

If you’re curious, more on our methodology is here.

What do people think of all this? Here’s the current vote on S. 3297. As always, you can click to vote, comment, learn more, or edit the wiki article about the bill.

Republican Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma didn’t come to Washington, D.C. to grow the government.

A long time critic of federal spending and power, he has made prolific use of “holds” to prevent legislation he doesn’t like from moving forward.

Now Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has reached his wit’s end. He has cobbled together into one bill a long list of measures that Coburn has been working to slow or stop. He’s hoping to roll over Senator Coburn and move them all forward. The bill is S. 3297, the Advancing America’s Priorities Act. But the nickname it has gotten is the “Coburn Omnibus.”

Majority Leader Reid is expected to try to bring the bill to the Senate floor later this week.

We have done our best to figure out which bills have been rolled into the Coburn Omnibus, using a copy of the bill he posted on his Web site. Thirty-six bills are listed below. The last would authorize the construction of a greenhouse in Suitland, Maryland.

Coburn has reportedly said the bills in the Coburn Omnibus would create 77 new federal programs. By our count, passage of the Coburn Omnibus would spend just under $65 per U.S. family, though six of the bills do not have cost estimates.

[UPDATE: Staff for Senator Coburn have noted to me that they count 35 programs the bill would create. The 77 number reported on FoxNews.com is the number of total programs Coburn has been holding up. Our count of 36 comes from treating an ocean exploration bill and an ocean mapping bill as separate.]

HEALTHCARE PROVISIONS

• S. 1382, the ALS Registry Act – $0.62
• S. 1183, the Christoper and Dana Reeve Paralysis Act – $0.85
• S. 999, the Stroke Treatment and Ongoing Prevention Act
• H.R. 20, the Melanie Blocker Stokes MOTHERS Act – $0.16
• S. 1117, the Vision Care for Kids Act of 2008
• S. 1810, the Prenatally and Postnatally Diagnosed Conditions Awareness Act – $0.17

JUDICIARY PROVISIONS

• H.R. 5524, the Reconnecting Homeless Youth Act of 2008
• S. 535, the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crimes Act of 2007 – $0.58
• S. 2304, the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Reauthorization and Improvement Act of 2008 – $4.34
• H.R. 4120, the Effective Child Pornography Prosecution Act of 2007
• H.R. 4136, the Enhancing the Effective Prosecution of Child Pornography Act of 2007
• S. 1210, the Drug Endangered Children Act of 2007 – $0.18
• S. 1079, the Star-Spangled Banner and War of 1812 Bicentennial Commission Act – $0.03
• S. 1738, the PROTECT Our Children Act of 2008 (Combating Child Exploitation Act of 2007) – $4.93

ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS PROVSIONS

• H.R. 2964, the Captive Primate Safety Act – $0.15
• S. 2707, the Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Network Continuing Authorization Act – $0.04
• S. 2844, the Beach Protection Act of 2008 – $2.56
• S. 496, the Appalachian Regional Development Act Amendments of 2008

FOREIGN RELATIONS PROVISIONS

• H.R. 1469, the Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation Act of 2008 – $3.76
• H.R. 1084, the Reconstruction and Stabilization Civilian Management Act of 2008 – $5.75
• H.R. 2798, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation Reauthorization of Act of 2008 – $0.66
• S. 2020, the Tropical Forest and Coral Conservation Reauthorization Act of 2008 – $0.65
• H.R. 1678, the Torture Victims Relief Reauthorization Act of 2008 – $0.93
• H.R. 3320, the Support for the Museum of the History of Polish Jews Act of 2008 – $0.05

COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION PROVISIONS

• S. 1492, the Broadband Data Improvement Act – $1.85
• S. 675, the Training for Realtime Writers Act of 2007 – $0.62
• H.R. 3352, the Hydrographic Services Improvement Act Amendments of 2008 – $5.92
• H.R. 1834, the NOAA Undersea Research Program Act of 2008 (National Ocean Exploration Program Act) – $2.36
• H.R. 2400, the Ocean and Coastal Mapping Integration Act – $1.03
• H.R. 5618, the National Sea Grant College Program Amendments Act of 2008 – $2.69
• S. 950, the Integrated Coastal and Ocean Observation System Act of 2008 – $6.36
• H.R. 4174, the Federal Ocean Acidification Research and Monitoring Act of 2008 – $0.70

HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS PROVISIONS

• S. 1446, the National Capital Transportation Amendments Act of 2008 – $10.40
• H.R. 390, the Preservation of Records of Servitude, Emancipation, and Post-Civil War Reconstruction Act – $0.12
• S. 3175, the Predisaster Hazard Mitigation Act of 2008 – $6.18

RULES AND ADMINISTRATION PROVISIONS

• H.R. 5492, To authorize the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution to construct a greenhouse facility at its museum support facility in Suitland, Maryland, and for other purposes – $0.02