Do-Nothing Congress... Unfit to legislate. Unfit to lead.

From this morning's press conference.

President Bush: Good morning. We're now more than halfway through October, and the new leaders in Congress have had more than nine months to get things done for the American people. Unfortunately, they haven't managed to pass many important bills. Now the clock is winding down and in some key areas Congress is just getting started.

Congress has work to do on health care...

Congress has work to do to keep our people safe...

Congress has work to do on the budget...

Congress has work to do on education...

Congress has work to do on housing...

Congress has work to do on trade...

Congress has work to do for our military veterans...

Congress also needs to complete the Veterans Affairs appropriations bill that funds veterans' benefits and other ongoing programs...

Congress has work to do for law enforcement and the judiciary…

With all these pressing responsibilities, one thing Congress should not be doing is sorting out the historical record of the Ottoman Empire.

Unfit to legislate. Unfit to lead.

House Democrats have been forced to pull their proposed legislation to change the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) because they couldn't round up enough support among Dems who need the votes of non-liberals to be re-elected. You probably recall that the Democratic leadership was embarrassed two months ago when these same non-leftist Dems joined with Republicans to pass a temporary FISA fix so that our intelligence agencies could monitor the overseas communications of terrorists without obtaining a warrant. Still unwilling to provide the administration with the FISA fix it needs to ensure the gathering of information vital to the national security, the Democratic leadership has been slapped down again by members of its own caucus.

More at the link.