No way to fund a country
The Capitol is reflected in a pool of water on Capitol Hill in Washington (July 13, 2011) Credit: AP
The federal government will shut down Wednesday unless Congress passes a temporary spending bill by Tuesday. If you think you've seen this reality show before, you have. Congress passed a temporary spending bill last week to prevent a government shutdown on Oct. 1, after defusing a fight over money for federal disaster relief. The temporary spending measure that must be enacted by Tuesday will keep the government open for business through Nov. 18. Then Congress will probably need to enact yet another temporary spending measure of one kind or another, because of its chronic inability to pass the 12 annual appropriations bills needed to fund the government for an entire fiscal year. Funding by fits and starts -- it's an incredibly irresponsible way to run a $3.7-trillion-a-year enterprise.
