Comment on Congress tied up in partisan knots over the most basic duty

Congress tied up in partisan knots over the most basic duty

[...] with the Capitol awash in election-year politics and shadowed by the contentious presidential race and engulfed in a fierce battle for control of the Senate, the simplest task became a nearly impossible heavy lift impeded by needless delays and bitter finger-pointing. Republicans, defending a fragile Senate majority and eager to get a handful of vulnerable incumbents back home to campaign for re-election, accused Minority Leader Harry Reid of holding up a deal to keep GOP lawmakers off the campaign trail. Democrats denied it but lobbed their own allegations, all but accusing Republicans of racism for holding up money for people affected by lead-tainted water in predominantly black Flint, the final sticking point in the talks. Yet even as they stumbled to a messy solution at close to the last possible moment — the deadline was midnight Friday — some lawmakers were already looking ahead to next year, when much weightier tasks await the next Congress and a new president in what may be an even more fraught era of divided government. Lawmakers will need to revisit major programs that are ripe for battles including the Children's Health Insurance Program under Medicaid, payments to hospitals and community health centers, expiring tax credits for a range of industries, a reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration, the annual defense policy bill, as well as the annual budgeting process.

 

Comment On This Story

Welcome to Wopular!

Welcome to Wopular

Wopular is an online newspaper rack, giving you a summary view of the top headlines from the top news sites.

Senh Duong (Founder)
Wopular, MWB, RottenTomatoes

Subscribe to Wopular's RSS Fan Wopular on Facebook Follow Wopular on Twitter Follow Wopular on Google Plus

MoviesWithButter : Our Sister Site

More Politics News