While Congress isn't passing budgets...
The new Capitol Hill newspaper, , also had a piece on .I don't take anything away from lawmakers -- most of them work very hard. I just don't understand the priorities.The most frustrating thing is that we are more than four months into the new fiscal year and most agencies do not have spending bills. In many cases, they will have to spend the money they do get by the end of the fiscal year. And we wonder why the government doesn't run like a business.
The Politicolawmakers complaining about the long hours
I keep hearing a lot of grumbling about the lack of spending bills for most agencies other than DOD and DHS. (You can see their status -- or lack thereof -- on Thomas.
What's most frustrating is that lawmakers key job is getting through those spending bills each year, and yet they almost never do it. The do, of course, get through all sorts of other things.
CBS Radio's Charles Osgood had a little ditty on it today (you can hear Osgood there too, BTW):
Members of both the House and Senate really bristled when the new Democratic Leadership told them at the beginning of this session that they'd have to work a five day week like most other working people in this country. Because it gave the impression that they're not working hard enough as it is. In today's Washington Post, Dana Milbank's Washington Sketch spells out some of the exhausting work Congress puts in on the floor of the House or Senate on a given day the given day being yesterday...
What a day I had at work today House Members might have complained to their spouses when they got home last night. Work work work. We passed HR 99 commending the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's VOLLEY BALL team. We passed HR 72 celebrating the achievements of Max Mayfield the meteorologist. Then we had to work on this legislation in support of the African American Spiritual as a national treasure. Representative Vernon Ehlers told us HE often used to sing Negro spirituals in his church. What dear? No Ehlers is NOT black. We remembered a deceased NASCAR driver Benny Parsons. We named a courthouse in Duluth the Gerald Heaney Courthouse after the grandfather of two of our fellow Congressmen. Then we rolled up our sleeves and congratulated the Indianapolis Colts for winning the Super bowl. And not only that but we consented unanimously to add to the Congressional Record the names all the members of the Colts Offense, Defense, substitutions and coaching staff. It was exhausting, I tell you. Pour me a drink will you honey? ... I'm Charles Osgood on the CBS Radio Network.
The Politicolawmakers complaining about the long hours