Congress has once again let partisan paralysis prevent it from passing the fundamental necessary spending bills that keep the government functioning.
They did this as their summer vacation approached. They'll be back Sept. 6, when the leaves fall on the tennis court. They also hope that voters will fail to recall that in January, the House and Senate Republican leadership, notably Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, pledged to pass the spending bills, no matter what, and the Democrats promised to play fair, too. Both parties seem to have been struck by "senior moments" regarding their pledges and are, instead, playing their usual games.
There are a dozen or so of these basic appropriations bills, all stuck, mostly in or because of the Senate. They include the military spending bill; a separate military construction and veterans bill where the parties differ on spending to fight the Zika virus; and the commerce, justice and science bill, stuck over gun control. It seems that neither the slaughter in Orlando, Fla., nor the killings in Baton Rouge, La., and St. Paul, Minn., followed by the slaying of five police officers in Dallas and Sunday's murder of three in Baton Rouge, has made any difference in the congressional response to lobbying by the National Rifle Association and the gun industry, blocking gun measures.
The Senate Democrats are blocking the defense appropriations bill because they are afraid that if they pass it, the Republicans, who want it to please their campaign contributors, will cut the amount by which the defense bill exceeds agreed-upon spending limits from money for domestic issues.
It seems remarkable that America's legislators would play these games with vital spending in an election year. If voters see any of these people, at the beach or on the golf course, during their upcoming seven-week vacation, it might be worth reminding them that they are expected to do what they are paid to do-particularly passing appropriations bills-and that what they do or don't do will be reflected by votes for or against them in November.