Congress Struggles With Continuing Resolution The "continuing resolution," now a seemingly permanent method of paying for the United States government, is also a continuing symbol of Congressional dysfunction. Lawmakers resort to C.R."s (as they are known) when they are unable to agree on a year's worth of new spending priorities, and so simply keep what is already in effect, along with a few tweaks. That dysfunction is on full display this week as members of Congress struggle to agree on a new stopgap measure for the second half of this fiscal year, beginning March 27. And that's because lawmakers - mostly Republicans - are using the legislation as an opportunity to score ideological points rather than simply do their basic jobs. Of course, many of them think that actually is their job. It started when the House used its version of the bill to give some relief from the sequester to the military, but not to any domestic agencies. Senate Democrats - with the assent of Republicans such as Richard Shelby of Alabama - responded by allowing more flexibility for the departments of Justice, Homeland Security, Commerce and Agriculture, and that was the signal for other members to begin piling on. But the most fervent lawmakers had their own designs on the bill. Gun-rights advocates in the Senate slipped in provisions that would further cripple the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, preventing it from important record-keeping and licensing tasks. Two of the most extreme Republican senators, Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida, demanded an amendment to defund health-care reform. It failed this morning, for what may be the 34th time , but Republicans voted unanimously to support it. Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa, submitted an amendment to increase funding for education, a good idea but almost certainly hopeless. Other amendments would shift funding to prevent the sequester's closing of airport towers in small cities, or to allow greater compensation for crime victims. And these votes are just a prelude to the "vote-a-rama" that will take place in the coming weeks when the 2014 budget hits the Senate floor. This week, House Republicans and Senate Democrats unveiled budgets for the 2014 fiscal year so far apart as to be unbridgeable. Much of Paul Ryan's House budget is based on the repeal of health-care reform, which (fortunately) will never happen. The Senate's budget assumes new revenue from eliminating tax loopholes for corporations and the rich, which (unfortunately) is also highly unlikely, thanks to Republican opposition. Republicans have been taunting Democrats to finally assemble a budget just so they can force votes on conservative amendments likely to show up in campaign ads. Approving C.R."s instead of new full-year spending authority, as has happened in all but 3 of the last 30 years, has a significant price. A Government Accountability Office report, issued today, says these measures often cripple agencies with uncertainty, and make it impossible to hire for the future. The Food and Drug Administration, for example, has been unable to plan for enough inspectors to properly monitor food and medical devices. With luck, Congress may be able to stave off a shutdown later this month, though at a high cost. If members keep preferring show business to legislating, don't expect anything but more disappointing C.R.s when a new 2014 budget is needed this fall.