Ominous Budget Numbers: It's Time for Congress to Get Serious

We hear a lot of talk coming out of Washington about getting serious about fixing the stalled American economy.  But every day that passes without measures to cut spending or create growth makes it harder to take the Congress seriously.  

The day the president delivered the State of the Union speech marked exactly 1,000 days since the United States Senate had last passed a budget. We often hear pundits chide a "do-nothing Congress" and, in this instance, they're correct.  The failure of the Senate to pass a budget — any budget — for more than 1,000 days is a grievous display of irresponsibility on their part, especially with the budget deficit continuing to balloon to record numbers.

But the "do-nothing Congress" charge is only partly correct.  There are no less than 22 job-creation bills that have passed in the House aimed at addressing our economy’s sluggish growth and stalled job creation. All 22 of those bills have languished in the Senate, without so much as an up or down vote.

If Congress is really serious about fixing our economy, and if they're serious about creating jobs and growing American prosperity, the first step is to take action.  

That means producing a budget that begins to deal with American's exploding debt problem.  That means considering the 22 pieces of House-passed job creation legislation.

It means Congress doing the job the American people sent them there to do. 

We want to hear from you. What are your thoughts on yesterday’s CBO report?