http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/21/AR2010092105113_pf.html
Do-nothing Democrats
By Dana Milbank
Wednesday, September 22, 2010; A23
Reporters walking into House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer's office Tuesday morning noticed an open supply cabinet with a tape measure on the shelf.
It was a strange bit of office equipment. Are Democrats so resigned to defeat that they're expecting Republicans to stop by and take measurements of the majority offices?
They still have their largest majority in decades, but the Democrats have succumbed to paralysis in the closing days of the legislative session. Congress has yet to pass a budget or a single one of the annual spending bills. Plans to spur the economy with tax cuts await action. Senate Democrats, faced with a GOP filibuster, have now punted on immigration reform and repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays in the military. Meanwhile, House Democrats have so little on their schedule that their first vote of the week is coming at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, when Americans are most of the way through their workweeks.
Among the items they'll consider: H.R. 1545, "Expressing support for designation of the week beginning on the third Monday in September as 'National Postdoc Appreciation Week.' " And: H.R. 4387, naming the building at 100 North Palafox St. in Pensacola, Fla., the "Winston E. Arnow Federal Building."
"Your schedule," Linda Scott of PBS remarked to Hoyer at Tuesday morning's meeting, "looks pretty light." She asked whether Democrats are "telling you they need to be back home, rather than naming post offices?"
"We always name post offices," Hoyer replied with irritation. "It's a worthwhile endeavor to do that, and people really do appreciate it, particularly when it's their name and their community."
