As lamwakers in the Congress get ready to adjourn for the elections by the end of this week, the list of unfinished legislation is - to borrow a southern saying - "bigger than all hell."
If Congress leaves by Friday of this week, it will be the earliest election year departure for lawmakers since 1960, when the 80th Congress beat it out of town on September 1, over two months before Election Day.
The difference is that the 80th Congress had finished its work and adjourned sine die, while the 112th Congress has hardly broken a sweat on the budget and much more.
Let's face it - if Congress was in charge of the "honey-do" list at home, there would be one very unhappy spouse about the quality of that work.
* Budget - For the 16th straight year, the Congress isn't finishing the budget bills on time; the Senate has not even debated one spending bill, while the House approved 6 of 12 budget bills, though the last one was voted on back in July.
* Taxes - The House and Senate have passed competing bills on what to do about the expiration of the current income tax rates (the Bush tax cuts) at the end of this year; no deal has been struck.
* More Taxes - Also, there is no deal on what to do with the expiring payroll tax cut, the Alternative Minimum Tax and a series of short term tax cuts (both personal and business) that have been routinely extended in recent years.
* Sequester - There is also no deal on whether the Congress will try to stave off or change the scheduled $110 billion in automatic budget cuts set to take effect in January. The House has approved several plans to block the defense portion of those cuts.
* Postal Reform - The Senate approved a postal reform bill back in May, the House has yet to bring up such legislation, which would let the Postal Service make needed internal changes to try to erase billions in losses.
* Cybersecurity - A major cybersecurity bill ran aground this summer in the Senate and looks to be going nowhere still.
* Defense - A major defense policy bill was approved by the House but has not been scheduled for floor debate in the Senate.
* Farm Bill - A major farm policy bill was approved by the Senate but has not been scheduled for floor debate in the House.
* Jobs - Both parties accuse the other of blocking numerous pieces of legislation designed to promote economic growth. House Republicans say Senate Democrats aren't acting on GOP plans, while Senate leaders say the House GOP is blocking Democratic plans.
Is there more to list? Of course there is. But that is a pretty good summary.
Maybe it is too much to expect that very much will get done in Congress when one party controls the House and one party controls the Senate.
Of course, the voters made that choice - maybe that is the kind of result many of them wanted, a Congress that doesn't get very much done.
