Forget Halloween, members of Congress always find stuff "scary" Halloween comes once a year, but in Washington members of Congress remain scared all year round. There are the obvious horrors like Ebola and ISIS subject to exploitation. But on Capitol Hill, there is a lot considered "scary" (and not just how little work gets done). With all the partisan fear mongering, it's like a perennial haunted house. Forget ghosts and goblins, based on floor speeches from the Congressional Record, here are just a few examples of the things members of Congress this session said you should really fear: Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.) on job creation: This is scary. I am nervous. I am stunned by the insensitivity. The whole world economy rests on America's Treasury bonds. Let me repeat: The whole world economy rests on America's Treasury bonds. Rep. Trey Radel (R-Fla.) on a balanced budget: But this is where it gets really scary. All of this blue part here for Medicare and Social Security is what we take in. In other words, all of our cash on hand, if you will, the money that you pay the Federal Government every time you get a paycheck or pay your income taxes, this is all devoted to Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) on climate change: Lake Michigan, when measured just a few months ago, was at its lowest depth in any measured time in recent history. What we are seeing in global warming is the evaporation of our Great Lakes. It is a scary thing to think about what this will ultimately do to us. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Obamacare: This is scary stuff. But these are the real-life consequences of ObamaCare. This is no longer some theoretical policy discussion. I would suggest that as we contemplate the future of this law, our Democratic friends should start paying closer attention to stories such as these because it is not enough to have a messaging strategy and to play the old Washington game by trying to weather the PR storm until folks move on. And last Halloween? Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on the then-recent government shutdown: Think about that. There are 232 Republicans in the House of Representatives. On a vote to open the government after 16 days of being closed and defaulting on the debt, only 85 of the 232 voted to reopen the government and keep us from defaulting on our debt. That is a scary number. So the vast majority of the Republicans in the House wanted to keep the government closed and to default on the debt. Wow, that is spooky. So much for nothing to fear but fear itself... Colby Itkowitz is a national reporter for In The Loop.