Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Editorial: Republicans prefer a dead duck session
Democrats will have to clean up Congress' budget mess next year.
From the RoundTable blog
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Republicans aren't satisfied with just the lame-duck Congress voters handed them on Nov. 7. Instead, the GOP shot the duck, plucked its feathers and cooked it.
With Democrats taking control of both chambers of Congress in January, Republicans decided not to bother passing necessary spending bills. Those bills allocate a half-trillion dollars to 13 cabinet departments. GOP leaders hope the extra work will bog down Democrats in the new year and ensure Republicans avoid responsibility for another pork-laden budget.
Talk about lame.
One of the legislative branch's most important responsibilities is passing a budget. Ideally, senators and representatives complete budget work around the end of the summer, but often they leave the job unfinished, especially in election years. Even then, Congress strives to finalize spending by the end of the year, not turn it into a means of stymieing the opposition.
Republicans are saying that though they had an entire year to pass a budget, they have failed, so they will stick it to the incoming Congress. Let the Democrats cobble together something quickly and, hopefully, make a mess of it.
In the meantime, federal programs must limp along at the previous year's funding levels, shortchanging all Americans.
As for dodging another Republican imprimatur on pork, it's a little late for that. A spokesman for Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., summed up the thinking, "The last thing Republicans need is an end-of-Congress spending spree as our last parting shot as we walk out the door."
Republicans commendably will not use their final hours in power to ram through handouts to all of their friends in, say, the energy business. But they could pass a no-nonsense budget rather than leave their fiscal morass stinking up the Capitol for the holiday season. It's not as if one year of shirking their duty will erase five years of fiscal irresponsibility.
This final churlish display illustrates just what turned off voters this month. It's a pity that Republicans chose not to hear the electoral message.
