GOP Congress Batting Below the Mendoza Line

When Congress adjourned for the year, it did so without passing the crucial funding bills for 2007.  In fact, it passed only two out of the eleven.

Batting .180 is not too impressive in baseball, and it hardly gets the job done in Congress either. Because the Congress could not pass all of its spending bills, it was forced to pass a continuing resolution instead, and will likely have to operate on one for the upcoming year as the only practical remaining option.

In a way, it is not surprising that the Congress could not complete its basic appropriations work: as the Washington Post recently pointed out, by the last day of this past Congress, the outgoing congressional leadership had held the Congress in session in Washington for a total of 103 days.  That’s seven days fewer than the infamous “Do-Nothing Congress