With some last minute finger pointing, Congress wrapped up work for 2007 on Wednesday, as lawmakers gave final approval to more money for the war in Iraq, along with a one year patch on the Alternative Minimum Tax.

The war money was a defeat for Democrats, who tried all year to force a withdrawal in Iraq, but never had enough votes.

President Bush had made approval of a giant year end budget bill contingent on extra money for Iraq.

After the Senate finished major work on Tuesday night, the final votes of the 2007 work year were left to the House, where Democrats had resisted extra money for the Iraq war.

But when the money came up for a vote, 78 House Democrats broke with their leadership to support $70 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as the House voted 272-142 for the money.

"I know there are a lot of good things in the bill," said Congressman John Lewis (D-GA), "but there is one bad thing, billions of dollars, billions of dollars to fund the war in Iraq."

In a speech on the House floor, Lewis pleaded with the White House to "bring this madness to an end, bring our young people home and bring them home now."

Other anti-war Democrats echoed Lewis, as they vented their frustration in a final debate this year on the war, unable to force any major change on Iraq since taking control of the Congress in the 2006 elections.

Before going home, lawmakers also sent President Bush a bill that keeps over 20 million Americans from being hit by the Alternative Minimum Tax.

Both houses of Congress will resume legislative business on January 22, 2008, but the Senate will keep the light on in the interim, all to block President Bush from making so-called "recess" appointments while Congress is out of session.

Senate Democrats did the same thing over the Thanksgiving break, preventing President Bush from filling a series of adminstration jobs while also avoiding Senate confirmation proceedings.

Democrats scheduled eleven "pro forma" sessions between now and January 22, where a single Senator will convene the Senate and quickly adjourn until that is repeated a few days later. That technically keeps the Senate in session and blocks any recess appointments by the White House.

"We're going to go into pro forma session so the president can't appoint people that we think objectionable," Reid said on the Senate floor, shortly before wrapping up work for the year.

Earlier this month, President Bush made clear his frustration with that tactic over Thanksgiving, as the White House acknowledged that he had planned to install a series of officials with recess appointments.

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