On Independence Day, CBS Frets Congress Becoming 'Paralyzed' Over 'Fear of the Deficit'

On Independence Day, CBS Frets Congress Becoming 'Paralyzed' Over 'Fear of the Deficit': "West coast viewers got to see a July 4 CBS Evening News on Sunday, and those who tuned in saw CBS's interim 'report card' on Congress's performance so far. Under the headline of 'unfinished business,' correspondent Wyatt Andrews and his sole expert, Politico's Jonathan Allen, both fretted how Congress is now 'paralyzed' due to a 'growing fear of the deficit.'

Many Americans are probably wishing Congress had become 'paralyzed' a few trillion dollars ago.

Andrews rued that supposedly job-creating 'stimulus spending' may be sacrificed if enough congressmen feel deficit spending is now 'political Kryptonite.'

Many members of Congress especially those in tough re-election campaigns are home right now, trying to figure out the spending issue: Will voters support more stimulus spending if it directly leads to jobs, or has deficit spending itself become political Kryptonite?

CBS's main example of congressional indecision, however, was an urgently-needed Afghanistan war funding bill that the Senate has nearly doubled with additional spending, pushing it from $33 to $60 billion, and that has ballooned in the House to $80 billion.

That doesn't sound like a Congress that is becoming cowed by the need to throttle back spending.