As the clock hit midnight, just over three hours after President Obama announced a bipartisan deal to raise the debt limit, there was still one piece missing from the agreement - the actual bill.
Both sides issued a series of bullet points touting certain portions of the deal - some of which seemed to run counter to each other - but there was no actual legislative text to see how the agreement was actually hammered out.
"Now, this process has been messy; it’s taken far too long," the President said in the White House Briefing Room as the deal was announced both there and down at the Capitol.
But we won't know just how 'messy' until we actually see the bill.
Before adjourning the Senate on Sunday night, it was notable that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid did not file the deal, so it won't be in the Congressional Record in the morning.
As of midnight, it wasn't on the web site of the House Rules Committee.
And so, as lawmakers return to work on Monday at the Capitol, the obvious question has to be asked - what else will be in this debt limit bill?
I ask that question because this is an example of what we refer to as the "last train leaving the station."
In other words, it's the last 'must-pass' bill for Congress before lawmakers leave town until September - and that means someone might be thinking about adding in something extra.
Late last week for example, Democrats in the Senate acknowledged that they were thinking about using the "Budget Control Act of 2011" to not only address the debt limit, but also to end the political standoff that has resulted in a 10 day partial shutdown at the Federal Aviation Administration.
Why do that in the debt limit bill? That's a simple answer - it's because as soon as this bill is finished by the Congress, lawmakers in the House are going to leave town for their summer break, making it almost impossible to move a stand-alone FAA measure.
So, unless you want the FAA dispute to roll on into September when Congress returns to work, costing taxpayers $30 million per day in uncollected airline ticket taxes, it won't shock many people to see that issue addressed in the debt limit legislation.
But we won't know until we actually see the bill.
The current plan is for the Senate to vote first, sending the bill back to the House for final consideration on Monday evening or Monday night.
We'll see whether anything else ends up in there.
