Another thing I’ve been wondering is what the GOP-led Congress will do over the next 64 days. Will they address the meat-and-potatos household issues (health care, the economy, minimum wage) that most voters in this area are interested in? Apparently not, much to the chagrin of northeastern Republicans (like Kuhl, Walsh, and Reynolds):

Congress will return to Washington this week with the Republican majorities in both chambers at risk and GOP leaders planning to turn the floors of the House and Senate into battlegrounds over which political party can best protect the country from terrorists and other security threats.

But in devoting the few remaining legislative days almost exclusively to security issues, Republicans will leave major domestic tasks undone, including President Bush’s prized immigration overhaul and long-promised legislation to toughen the restrictions on lobbying after a wide-ranging corruption scandal. No budget plan for 2007 will be completed. Promised relief for seniors struggling with their Medicare prescription drug plans will have to wait. And as many as eight of the 11 bills needed to fund the government will not be passed before the November elections

(snip)

The single-minded focus has some Republicans concerned that bread-and-butter issues of great importance to the battleground states of the Midwest and the Northeast are being left on the cutting-room floor. Friday was the ninth anniversary of the last increase in the federal minimum wage, yet minimum-wage bills coveted by embattled Republicans are not on the priority list.

Related posts:

1. Massa on the last days of the Do Nothing Congress
2. Confessions of a do-nothing Congress (continued)
3. Five fifteen an hour versus 165K a year
4. Tom Reynolds votes against minimum wage increase - updated
5. Slaughter guest essay in the D&C