Maybe next Congress will do better

Perhaps the next U.S. Congress will do better. As they continue many months of negotiations over another coronavirus relief package, members of Congress were finally able to pass a bill to keep the government funded and avoid a shutdown. Of course, it happened at the last possible moment, and that is becoming a disturbing trend for our federal lawmakers. Their only real job is to keep the government operational, but even that barely happens. They pass stopgap spending bills to keep the government funded, but not without the threat of a government shutdown. Three times this year Congress has had to rush to pass stopgap funding bills. Do they even know what they are funding when they vote? Wouldn’t it be better to budget for more than months at a time? To scrutinize the spending to ensure taxpayers are getting their money’s worth? They can’t do that when the discussion comes at the last minute. Let’s hope when the next Congress is seated, they take a more long-term view, avoid threats of shutdowns, and don’t wait until it is almost too late to finally do their jobs.