Evan Vucci/AP
Remember in high school, when you did nothing all semester and then did a ton of work at the end, hoping your teacher wouldn’t notice? That’s what the House of Representatives is doing right now, as it prepares to take on a flurry of last-minute bills to cap off a historically unproductive year. On their docket right now: a House-Senate conference report on the budget, a farm bill, and a water projects bill. Aides say it’s unlikely that all of them will be finished by the end of 2013. Not content to fail at just these bills, House Republicans are also taking up a number of other bills, including the Kids First Research Act, Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s legislation that will redirect $126 million from presidential nominating conventions to the National Institutes of Health.