The news coming from Capitol Hill over the past couple of weeks has left much to be desired. Congress has had difficulty discharging its lawmaking duties.The Senate’s appropriations committee is at loggerheads over how much spending to authorize. The impasse is hindering Congress’s ability to pass the dozen spending bills and avert a government shutdown on Oct. 1. Additionally, the CIA and other national security authorities have lost the power to conduct warrantless searches of foreign persons. Legislators could not agree to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.The House of Representatives, for its part, was out of session the week of June 15 and only conducted work on three days the previous week. The time off further reduces the odds that Congress will finalize a lengthy list of legislation before legislators flee Washington, D.C., to campaign for reelection. These bills include ones that would set clear standards for the taxation of cryptocurrency, extend the existing highway and transit programs, and a revised farm bill, which was last updated in 2018.
And that is to say nothing of the looming insolvency of Social Security. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) recently lamented the sorry state of the program’s finances. Some of his GOP colleagues seconded his sentiments and bemoaned the absence of congressional action. Retirees will see their benefits cut in 2032, and the longer Congress takes to act, the tougher it will be to right the program’s finances.(Examiner illustration; Getty Images; AP Photos)
