To an already unrelated provision in the bill tightening child pornography laws, the Senate last week had added another proposal dealing with obscenity.

In addition, it contains an unrelated provision establishing a $5,000 tax credit for couples who adopt a child.

But because the bill is considered must-pass legislation, it has become a magnet for all sorts of unrelated provisions.

A celebration, that is, of an unrelated provision in the same bill - which guarantees new mothers longer hospital stays.

Additional unrelated provisions added an estimated $150 billion to the cost of the package and increased the length of the bill to 451 pages.

But because the bill is viewed as must-pass legislation, it has become encrusted with dozens of unrelated provisions.

The prescription drug bill the Bush administration pushed through Congress last year had a number of provisions unrelated to Medicare.

What started as an emergency disaster-relief bill to help 35 states became bogged down in recent days with dozens of unrelated provisions.

The legislation has stalled in Congress as members try to attach unrelated provisions on issues like Bosnia and budget procedures.

The 92-to-0 vote follows a similar action in the Senate last year, but the measure failed in the House after unrelated provisions were tacked on.