As I type this at 1:30 am on Friday morning, Senators are still voting at this hour, trying to plow through amendments on a 3-bill "minibus" spending bill, bringing back memories of how the Senate used to operate.

"This is the way we did things in the past," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, as he apologized to his colleagues for keeping them at work well past their bed time.

In fact, well after midnight, only one Senator had headed home early, as Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) was the only one to call it a night before the final gavel had sounded.

Senators though did not finish the package of three spending bills, leaving the final resolution of that legislation until after Halloween, when Senators return from a ten day break.

This bill combines spending plans for Agriculture, Transportation, Justice, Commerce and other functions of the federal government, as Congress remains well behind schedule on the budget for the fiscal year that started this month.

Before heading out of town, the Senate early this morning rejected a controversial Republican amendment that would have barred the Obama Administration from trying accused terrorists in federal courts - basically allowing only military trials of Al Qaeda suspects being held at Guantanamo Bay.

"We should not be trying these individuals in our civilian system," argued Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), who spearheaded the GOP charge on that issue.

But intense lobbying by the White House and Pentagon kept Democrats in line, as the Senate voted along party lines, defeating the GOP effort 52-47.

The Senate's failure to approve this spending bill last night means that Senators are still stuck on one - as in one budget bill is all that has made it through the Senate this year.

The House has approved six budget bills - but has not acted on one since late July, as the Congress failed for the 17th consecutive year to get its spending work done by the start of the new fiscal year on October 1.

Because the House and Senate have made little headway on the budget, it's expected that lawmakers will approve another stop-gap budget bill in coming weeks, as the current plan runs out on November 18.

As for the late night work of the Senate, I have found through the years that some of the best stories and best debates come after the dinner hour in the Senate.

There probably aren't as many lawmakers liquored up as there were over 30 years ago when I first started working here on Capitol Hill, but these late night debates still seem to produce their share of twists and turns.

But in recent years, we have not had many of them - simply because we haven't had that much work done on the annual spending bills.

It is work that maybe the Senate - and the House - should think about doing again. At least it gives C-SPAN some late night entertainment.