There is so much work to do in the Congress on so many issues, but the schedule for lawmakers continues to include more time off - as the House is out of session this week, while the Senate will be out next week.
For the House, this is the beginning of what would be a great schedule to have for work - off this week, two four day work weeks after that, off the week of November 7, a five day work week, then off the week of Thanksgiving, as well as the Monday after Thanksgiving.
That's 13 work days until Thanksgiving, and just thirteen until a temporary federal budget runs out - which probably means that will be extended into December.
In town this week, the Senate will start trying to knock off a few of the unfinished budget bills for the fiscal year that began on October 1, as Senate leaders have agreed to roll three of them into one bill for floor consideration.
So this week, the Senate will work on spending for Agriculture, Transportation and Commerce, Justice, Science programs.
That means everything from farm payments to highway money, NASA and the budget for the Attorney General could get the once over from the Senate.
There are 12 budget bills that Congress has to pass each year - so far the House has approved six and the Senate has voted out only one - and none have been signed into law by the President.
That's better than last year's scorecard, when the House approved only two bills and not a single spending bill made it through the U.S. Senate.
This gives me the chance to again remind you that the Congress has not finished its budget work on time since 1994. Both parties have run the show during that time, with Republicans more often in charge of the House and Democrats in the Senate.
Congress could probably work on just the budget every single day for the rest of the year and be hard pressed to finish it by Christmas.
While the Senate moves ahead with what we call a "minibus" of three spending bills, House leaders still haven't decided whether they should load their six remaning bills into one larger "omnibus" bill and try to get that approved.
When was the last time an omnibus was used to finish the spending work of Congress?
Your answer would be earlier this year, when the Congress finished the left over work from the previous year.
Don't try to tell me that one party is more to blame than the other. Both sides have ample amounts of legislative blood on their hands on this issue.
