Columns

The congressional lame-duck session finally ended Christmas week for both the Senate and the House. The 112th Congress will begin at 12 noon on Wednesday, Jan. 5.

Here's both my qualifier and my bona fides for the opinion that follows: I earned my Republican stripes working for a GOP U.S. senator, for Ronald Reagan's first successful presidential campaign and for Newt Gingrich.

WASHINGTON -- The nation's menu of crises caused by governmental malpractice may soon include states coming to Congress as mendicants, seeking relief from the consequences of their choices. Congress should forestall this by passing a bill with a bland title but explosive potential.

WASHINGTON -- Many parents have heard FICA Screams. Indignant children, holding in trembling hands their first paychecks, demand to know what FICA is and why it is feasting on their pay.

For those of us who are demographic buffs, Christmas came four days early when Census Bureau Director Robert Groves announced yesterday the first results of the 2010 Census and the reapportionment of House seats (and therefore electoral votes) among the states.

Random thoughts on the passing scene:

Elections have consequences. The consequences of the November 2010 elections -- and one might add the November 2009 elections in New Jersey and Virginia and the January 2010 special Senate election in Massachusetts -- became clear as lights shone over the snow at both ends of the Capitol on Thursday night.

While most Americans spent this weekend doing some last-minute Christmas shopping, the Senate spent Saturday and Sunday debating and voting on amendments to the START treaty, the DREAM Act and the repeal of the Defense Department's dont ask, dont tell policy.