Tom’s Big Picture

Republicans are already cleaning up their act in response to their thumping:

Republicans vacating the Capitol are dumping a big spring cleaning job on Democrats moving in. GOP leaders have opted to leave behind almost a half-trillion-dollar clutter of unfinished spending bills,

There’s also no guarantee that Republicans will pass a multibillion-dollar measure to prevent a cut in fees to doctors treating Medicare patients.

And specifically:

Driving the decision to quit and go home rather than finish the remaining budget work is a determined effort by a group of conservative Republicans to prevent putting a GOP stamp on spending bills covering 13 Cabinet Departments - and loaded with thousands of homestate projects derided as “pork” by critics.

Some Republicans on Capitol Hill would rather complete this year’s budget work and have the GOP’s imprint rather than a Democratic one on how federal agencies will be spending their money through next September. However, conservatives such as Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., fear doing that would leave as the GOP’s legacy a foot-tall bill containing thousands of parochial projects. Last week they seized the upper hand by employing delaying tactics to drag the budget process to a halt in the Senate.

“The last thing Republicans need is an end-of-Congress spending spree as our last parting shot as we walk out the door,” said DeMint spokesman Wesley Denton.

It seems too good to be true- the federal government coming to a grinding halt because of lack of Congressional funds- just like the good old days of gridlock in the 90’s.