Progressive Minds

On their way out the door, the Republican-controlled Congress is leaving a mess for the Democrats to clean up when they take control in January. 

GOP leaders in Congress have decided to leave as unfinished business, spending bills that total appromixately a half-trillion-dollars.

And while some Republicans on the Hill say they should finish their work before going home, other GOP lawmakers suggest that the decision to not complete their work is intentional, in the hopes that the Democrats will be so busy cleaning up the mess that the GOP left behind, that they won't have a chance to focus on their own agenda next year.

From an Associated Press article:

Republicans vacating the Capitol are dumping a big spring cleaning job on Democrats moving in. GOP leaders have opted to leave behind almost a half-trillion-dollar clutter of unfinished spending bills.

There's also no guarantee that Republicans will pass a multibillion-dollar measure to prevent a cut in fees to doctors treating Medicare patients.

The bulging workload that a Republican-led Congress was supposed to complete this year but is instead punting to 2007 promises to consume time and energy that Democrats had hoped to devote to their own agenda upon taking control of Congress in January for the first time in a dozen years.

The decision to drop so much unfinished work in Democrats' laps demonstrates both division within Republicans ranks and the difficulty in resolving so many knotty questions in so short a time. GOP leaders promised their House and Senate members the December lame duck session would last no more than two weeks, or until Dec. 16 at the latest.

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"The last thing Republicans need is an end-of-Congress spending spree as our last parting shot as we walk out the door," said DeMint spokesman Wesley Denton.

Some Republicans also look forward to using unfinished budget work to gum up an early Democratic agenda that includes raising the minimum wage, negotiating lower drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries, cutting interest rates on college loans and repealing some tax breaks for oil companies.

"Other stuff may get pushed off the table," said GOP lobbyist Hazen Marshall, a former longtime Capitol Hill aide. "It kills (Democrats') message."

Perhaps if this Republican-controlled Congress had been more concerned with doing the business of the American people, instead of protecting pedophiles and smoozing up to people like Jack Abramoff, then perhaps these spending bills would have been finished.