Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., center, and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, left, arrive to vote on the spending bill in the Senate, at the Capitol in Washington on Wednesday, March 9, 2011. The Senate rejected competing Republican and Democratic spending bills in a bit of Capitol theater designed to demonstrate that the combatants must meet somewhere in the middle. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Sen. Joe Manchin III (left), West Virginia Democrat, and Sen. Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, arrive to vote on the spending bill Wednesday. The Senate rejected competing Republican and Democratic spending bills as the clock continued ticking down to a March 18 deadline. (Associated Press)
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (second from left), North Dakota Republican, and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (second from right), Massachusetts Democrat, leave the Senate chamber at the Capitol Wednesday after voting on the spending bill. Late Wednesday, the Senate rejected competing Republican and Democratic spending bills. (Associated Press)
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, center, is flanked by Speaker of the House John Boehner, left, and Senate President Pro Tempore Daniel Inouye, right, as she prepares to address a joint meeting of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, March 9, 2011. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard shakes hands with Speaker of the House John Boehner, second from left, as Senate President Pro Tempore Daniel Inouye, left, watches, after addressing a joint meeting of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, March 9, 2011. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard addresses a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress in the House of Representatives at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, March 9, 2011. She is joined by Speaker of the House John Boehner, left, and Sen. Daniel Inouye, president pro tempore of the Senate. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard is flanked by Speaker of the House John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican (left) and Senate President Pro Tempore Daniel K. Inouye, Hawaii Democrat, during her address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday. She is slated to visit the United Nations in New York on Thursday. (Associated Press)
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker speaks to reporters Monday regarding a letter he received from the state Senate's minority leader on the political standoff. (Associated Press)
** FILE ** Sen. Robert Casey Jr., D-Pa., is seen during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, in this Feb. 3, 2011, file photo. The Senate passed a resolution this week urging an international probe into war crimes allegations. Casey, who introduced the Senate resolution, said that a "state of denial" exists in the Sri Lankan government that is "not helpful" in achieving accountability for the bloodshed. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
