Good news, C-SPAN fans! Your do-nothing Congress is headed back to Washington, DC, from the campaign trail
starting next week:
After more than a month back home focused mostly on electoral politics, Congress reconvenes next week with hopes of quickly averting a government shutdown and reauthorizing a few other federal programs before rushing home to get back on the campaign trail.
They won't be back for long—just
eight days in the case of the House—and if they do avoid a shutdown, they'll probably only do it with a short-term deal that punts most if not all meaningful policy decisions to a later date. In fact, the House plan is essential to do nothing but extend current spending for two months:
House Republicans are expected to unveil a short-term spending plan next week that would continue current spending levels through at least early December, according to top aides.
Instead of doing any sort of real legislating during their time in DC, House Republicans will try to use their time on the Hill to achieve political goals. According to Roll Call, House Speaker John Boehner spoke to his fellow conference members ...
... in favor of using the remaining legislative days before the November elections to draw “a very stark contrast between ourselves and the Democrats who run Washington.”
The Republican-led House, Boehner said, “is going to spend September focused on American solutions to help get people back to work, lower costs at home and restore opportunity for all Americans.”
Because nothing says "we care about America" more than proposing a two-month budget that fails to address any of the policy issues before Congress while simultaneously holding a series of message votes designed to fire up your base. It's a jobs program, all right: A program to save
their jobs.