Civic Break for the Holidays
By GAIL COLLINS, NYT
So, how do you like living in a country that has a budget?
This week, the Senate finished work on legislation that will forestall any government shutdowns for the next two years. Then our lawmakers packed up and went home for the holidays. They kept everything else open and closed down Congress! Finally, America’s getting what it really wants for Christmas.
It’s great, right? And people have noticed. Even as a new federal budget was wending its way from House to Senate last week, a Washington Post-ABC News poll showed that American approval of the job Congress was doing had rocketed from 12 percent to 16 percent.
“The budget agreement is not perfect,” said the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, before the bill finally passed. This was a major refrain during several days of long, meandering debates. Other favorite themes: bipartisanship, the evils of Obamacare, the goodness of Pope Francis and the Republicans’ strong feelings about unfairness of Senate rules.
“Like the frog in the warming water, we do not realize we are being cooked and that the freedoms of Americans are being cooked!” cried Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama. That was a reference to the rules, although honestly, it could have been about pretty much anything except the pope.
(More here.)
So, how do you like living in a country that has a budget?
This week, the Senate finished work on legislation that will forestall any government shutdowns for the next two years. Then our lawmakers packed up and went home for the holidays. They kept everything else open and closed down Congress! Finally, America’s getting what it really wants for Christmas.
It’s great, right? And people have noticed. Even as a new federal budget was wending its way from House to Senate last week, a Washington Post-ABC News poll showed that American approval of the job Congress was doing had rocketed from 12 percent to 16 percent.
“The budget agreement is not perfect,” said the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, before the bill finally passed. This was a major refrain during several days of long, meandering debates. Other favorite themes: bipartisanship, the evils of Obamacare, the goodness of Pope Francis and the Republicans’ strong feelings about unfairness of Senate rules.
“Like the frog in the warming water, we do not realize we are being cooked and that the freedoms of Americans are being cooked!” cried Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama. That was a reference to the rules, although honestly, it could have been about pretty much anything except the pope.
(More here.)
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