Congress is running out of time. Many key pieces of legislation are falling victim to the calendar.

Among the bills likely to perish due to either a real shortage of days left on the calendar or "the two parties' skillful manipulation of it to advance their own political and policy objectives" are Bush's faith-based charity inititiative, terrorism-releated measures, health reforms, and measures to protect pensions.

"Other initiatives that appear in varying states of peril are protections for managed-care patients, a prescription drug benefit under Medicare, incentives for production of generic drugs, a minimum wage increase, an energy package, tighter bankruptcy rules, updating election machinery and procedures, anti-terrorism insurance, reauthorization of the 1996 welfare overhaul bill (a stop-gap extension is planned), renewal of national service programs, new rules for stem cell research and embryonic cloning and improved insurance coverage for mental health. "

What might survive? Drought relief for farmers and increased subsidies for Medicare providers. Some believe the energy bill has a fighting chance.

The article doesn't mention the one bill we care most about: The Innocence Protection Act. It now has 246 co-sponsors in Congress. For every seven people executed since the death penalty was resinstated in 1977, one person on death row is eventually exonerated by new evidence. 3,700 prisoners are on death row now--undoubtedly, some are innocent. We need to pass this law that will allow inmates with claims of factual innocence access to biological evidence for testing.

Write your representative in Congress today.