With Memorial Day approaching, Congress is preparing to take a break from the unyielding demands of doing nothing. The Senate will be out next week. The House will take its breather the following week.
In lieu of legislating, this Congress specializes in posturing.
In the Republican-controlled House, endless votes to repeal Obamacare have given way to endless hearings on Benghazi, designed to do political harm to President Obama and the possible candidacy of Hillary Clinton.
In the Democrat-controlled Senate, playing to the party base before the midterm elections is the order of the day. If senators aren’t debating an excessive hike in the minimum wage, they are pushing unrealistic subsidies for student loans that have no chance of reaching Obama’s desk.
Meanwhile, a partial list of unfinished business looks like this:
The mail. The Postal Service has been bleeding red ink for some time, thanks to declining volume and costly benefits. To remain solvent it needs major changes, such as closing post offices and eliminating Saturday delivery. Though it is possible something could get enacted by fall, Congress’ response so far has been to undermine management’s efforts to make cuts.
Do-nothing Congress takes a breather: Our view
I read this article in the flag waving Nat’l newspaper that just recites passages without fact checking them. They don’t mention that the prefunding started in 2006 by the do nothings in the capital, caused the deficits, or that the payments end in 2016, or the overpaid contributions to the retirement funds that are already spent or the fact that the basis of the amount was based on 800,000 employees and not the downsized 600,000 ee’s we now have. The usps could spend what little $$ we have better if they bribed congress like fedex and ups instead of buying radio commercials for the EVERY DAM DAY MAILINGS (EDDM) which can’t be run on the machines that Grumman lied to the usps about efficiencies that don’t exist. A 5th grader and his trust fund could run the usps better than the 100,000 dead weight bosses we pay. OK, I’m done blowing off steam.
Isn’t it nice to know that some people carry so much weight and play with other people’s lives like toys! Shame on you! Maybe you need to walk in my shoes Congress or maybe you just need to quit taking so many breaks and grow a backbone and make some decisions!