News bits

[legalmoose]

Okay, got the gym this morning. One of three down. :)

In other news, the president signed yet another continuing resolution on Saturday that funds the government through January 31, 2004. Now, for those of you outside the Washington beltway who pay little to no attention to these things, let me explain a bit. A CR, as they're called here, funds us merely at last fiscal year's levels. No increases are given, no decreases taken, and no new projects can begin under the CR. Which means that agencies have to continue with life as usual, which is okay for some, but for others can be pretty devastating. NASA can't start anything new. Other agencies can't start new research projects or the like. And there's no new funding for the raise which takes place every January.

No other entity could get away with this half-assed approach to budgeting. It would be nice if I could let deadlines slip like the Congress does and still get paid. Because their budget has already passed and been signed by the President, as has Homeland Security, the Department of Defense and the Department of the Interior, Congress has little incentive, it seems, to get off their collective butts and pass the budget. This has become the norm here in Washington, and it's not any way to run a government.

Comments

[a-trick-mind.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, CRs have become business as usual in Washington. Politics counts more than progress inside the beltway. Everyone under the Capitol Dome is good at pointing fingers, while the guy in the little white house down the street seems unwilling or unable to provide the kind of leadership necessary to stop this nonsense. And we are left with the inability to do the things necessary to move past all the pork barrels that litter downtown DC.