With the Congressional appropriations process grinding to a halt in the House and the future of FY 2009 appropriations bills in doubt, Democratic leaders announced ($) last week that they absolutely intend to pass one appropriations bill before the start of the fiscal year on Oct. 1 - the Defense Department appropriations bill. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said that she knows the bill will be passed because, "that is our responsibility." Apparently she doesn't feel the same responsibility to pass the other 11 appropriations bills on time. Hmmmm..... The White House also wants to the bill to be passed before Congress leaves town for the elections this fall. According to this CQ story, not passing the bill will cause problems: The White House and the Pentagon badly want the Defense bill enacted before Congress leaves so the department does not have to deal with the planning and accounting problems associated with not having its full budget in place at the start of the fiscal year. Unfortunately, the White House doesn't appear to have any concerns about the "planning and accounting problems" all the other federal agencies will inevitably experience if and when Congress fails to enact those appropriations bills. Looks like for both the Democratic Congress and the White House, defense funding is the only game in town. I guess educating, feeding, housing, and giving people health care just isn't that sexy anymore. Well, at least we aren't experiencing an economic downturn that is putting pressure on average Americans and their economic well-being. Yes, thank goodness for that.