Congress at its all-too-typical

I wasn't personally affected by the government shutdown because Congress failed to pass any appropriations bills for the new fiscal year that began October 1. But I was dismayed at the many politicians who tried to shift blame away from themselves -- for not doing their key Constitutional duty -- and onto government workers who -- suffered an immediate pay cut, tried to protect our parks and national monuments from harm by blocking access, were forbidden to use their emails even to help people seeking government permits to conduct their businesses, and were called "non-essential." We need to rename the categories to something like "Required for health and safety" and "Unfunded by Congress."

The settlement settled little, just kicked the can down the road to late January. But the nasty poll numbers may have reduced Republican willingness to threaten default again. Who knows? Two and a half months is a long time in politics.