The lame ducks are back. Queen Nancy is in the waning days of her power, and Prince Harry is still licking his wounds. There are serious issues that need to be dealt with, but somehow, first and foremost, the ethics hearing of Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) is topping the list of must do's in DC. Substitute the serious mood music of deliberation on issues of vital importance with the chase music from "The Benny Hill Show". You can take the legislature out of clown college, but it seems you can't remove the clowns from the legislature.

This is not to minimize the charges of ethics breaches filed against Mr. Rangel. They are numerous and pretty glaring - everything from profiteering on several rent-controlled apartments in NYC, to forgetting to report income on some vacation property in the Caribbean. Lots in between as well.

It would be hard for anyone to accept Mr.Rangel's contention that he "did nothing wrong". Reasonable conclusions are either that he plays fast and loose with the truth,  or that he's just not all that smart. Neither condition looks well on a Congressman. Still, do we really need to waste time on THIS, now? Charlie Rangel has been playing NYC machine politics for 50 years. It's every bit as dirty as Chicago politics. We have a 4 week window in this lame duck session, and these charges have been floating around for years. Congress has more important things to do.

We have no federal budget. The tax cuts are due to expire. The economy is still in the toilet. Unemployment is still at intolerable levels. The new START Treaty has been gathering dust since February. These are the things that Congress needs to be working on immediately, not providing punch lines for Jon Stewart .

Here's your "To Do" list, Nancy and Harry-

Pass the Budget - nothing inspires confidence in all of those countries that we owe money to (China, Japan, Korea, India) like not being able to set a budget (wait... India, really? Giving US money to waste? How the times have changed...). We are starting to look like Greece - kicking the can down the road. A series of Continuing Resolutions (authorizing money on a periodic basis to keep things functioning) is no substitute for a plan. The current resolution expires in December. Congress has very few stated functions in the Constitution. Setting a budget is one of them. If it's not too much trouble could you guys do your actual job?

Extend the Tax Cuts - for everyone. This will address a whole bunch of other problems at the same time. Right now businesses are putting off hiring, and consumers are putting off major purchases because no one knows what sort of a bite the federal government will be taking out of our wallet's come January 1. Businesses and families invest money and spend money based on a budget. Without knowing how much is coming in there is no way to figure out what can be spent. We know that the Congress is woefully inept at understanding the concept of a budget, but it's the world that the rest of us live in. Extend the Tax Cuts - even better, make them permanent. Then watch for some of those "green shoots" to sprout out of the dead economy.

The new Start Treaty - act on it. That's another one of those jobs given to the Congress by the Constitution - ratifying treaties. One more time - do your job. TPP did a study on this new treaty addressing nuclear weapons between the US and Russia. You can get more details at: A Good Start

All-in-all we find it to be a good agreement. Our only serious concern lies in limiting so-called "delivery systems" which are not exclusively used for nuclear weapons. TPP feels that provision needs modification. Doing so falls under the jurisdiction of the Senate. With that done, we see no reason to put off passage.

That's it - 3 things and then you can go home. Please. Everything else can wait for the new term that starts in January. Or if you just want to hang out in DC for awhile, once you finish these tasks go back and clean up the sullied reputation of the House by spanking Charlie Rangel. Plucking out one swamp creature should do wonders for the approval rating of Congress.

TPP did have a concern that the Democrat leadership would try to give one more push to the Obama agenda. With the lead off event of the lame duck session being the Rangel hearing, we have had our concern minimized. Clearly, the leadership does not possess the ability to prioritize the importance of what it could be spending it's time doing. Rather than a push for immigration reform or a new stimulus, we think it more likely that a food fight will break out. That's just as well. If the Congress can manage to focus on the three issues we have listed here, they may be able to claim an actual accomplishment. If nothing else gets worked on, at least no more damage will be done. Common Sense can live with that.

RLB