"NEWS ANALYSIS: Election Trumps Budget Work"

[GreenPartyVoter]

WASHINGTON (AP) - There are few things more important to members of Congress than control over how the government spends money. Getting re-elected is one of those things. That may explain why lawmakers seem to be doing the bare minimum this year on the budget.

It's long been apparent that 2006 would be a sleepy year on the budget front. Major agenda items like fixing Medicare and Social Security are off the table as too big to tackle in an election year. The extension of cuts to income tax rates passed in 2001 and due to expire in 2010 is a no-go as well.

But that election-year caution - at least in the Senate - has been extended to basic tasks such as passing annual agency budgets. Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., has put virtually all the spending bills on a back burner.

Passing those bills to keep the government running is Congress' core job, but it's becoming clearer it won't get done until a post-election lame-duck session, if then. It could spill over into next year, when Democrats could take control of one or both chambers of Congress from Republicans.

http://apnews1.iwon.com/article/20060708/D8INMDSG0.html

[SoCalDem]

1. Precisely why I support the DYWF plan

Do Your Work First.. There are apparently 13 bills each year that must be funded.. The term starts in January..

Maybe they need a big Refrigerator, and a MOM to put up a schedule with magnets...and maybe she needs to sit there and shhhh them when they stray off their task..

Once the IMPORTANT stuff is done, they can go "play" and vote about naming stuff after reagan and the rest of their dead pals...but until their chores are done, there's no recess for panhandling junkets..