Congress is so dysfunctional and irresponsible it\u2019s only done its job four times since World War II | Fortune<\/title><meta name=\"description\" content=\"The federal government had a record $432 billion deficit in July and hit the $40 trillion total debt threshold in August \u2014\u00a0and Congress took a break.\"\/><link rel=\"author\" href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/author\/steve-h-hanke\/\"\/><meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steve H. Hanke\"\/><link rel=\"author\" href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/author\/david-m-walker\/\"\/><meta name=\"author\" content=\"David M. Walker\"\/><meta name=\"keywords\" content=\"\"\/><meta name=\"publisher\" content=\"Fortune\"\/><meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, max-image-preview:large\"\/><meta name=\"fb:pages\" content=\"56501027948\"\/><meta name=\"msapplication-TileColor\" content=\"#ffc40d\"\/><meta name=\"twitter:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/2026\/09\/17\/congress-dysfunction-national-debt-august-recess-appropriations-bills\/\"\/><link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/2026\/09\/17\/congress-dysfunction-national-debt-august-recess-appropriations-bills\/\"\/><meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Congress is so dysfunctional and irresponsible it\u2019s only done its job four times since World War II | Fortune\"\/><meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The federal government had a record $432 billion deficit in July and hit the $40 trillion total debt threshold in August \u2014\u00a0and Congress took a break.\"\/><meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/2026\/09\/17\/congress-dysfunction-national-debt-august-recess-appropriations-bills\/\"\/><meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fortune\"\/><meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/img-assets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/GettyImages-2295080827-e1789657688320.jpg?resize=1200,600\"\/><meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\"\/><meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\"\/><meta property=\"og:image:alt\" content=\"congress\"\/><meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\"\/><meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\"\/><meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Fortune\"\/><meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Congress is so dysfunctional and irresponsible it\u2019s only done its job four times since World War II | Fortune\"\/><meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"The federal government had a record $432 billion deficit in July and hit the $40 trillion total debt threshold in August \u2014\u00a0and Congress took a break.\"\/><meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/img-assets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/GettyImages-2295080827-e1789657688320.jpg?resize=1200,600\"\/><meta name=\"twitter:image:alt\" content=\"congress\"\/><\/head><body class=\"font-graphik-compact bg-primary text-primary typography-default font-normal tracking-none antialiased\" id=\"wp_automatic_ReadabilityBody\"><template data-dgst=\"BAILOUT_TO_CLIENT_SIDE_RENDERING\"\/><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"description-parser contents\" data-cy=\"description\"><em>Steve H. Hanke is a Senior Contributing Columnist at Fortune, a professor of applied economics at The Johns Hopkins University, and a member of the Board of Directors at the Federal Fiscal Sustainability Foundation. He is also the co-editor, with Barry W. Poulson and John Merrifield, of Public Debt Sustainability: International Perspectives (Lexington Books, 2022). David M. Walker is the former Comptroller General of the United States and the Chairman of the Board of Directors at the Federal Fiscal Sustainability Foundation. He is also the co-author, with Joe Penland, Sr., of the forthcoming book, Saving Social Security and America\u2019s Future: Common Sense Solutions.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/body><\/div>\n<p>#Congress #dysfunctional #irresponsible #job #times #World #War<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Congress is so dysfunctional a… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4776,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1435,7826,7827,544,2217,356,51],"class_list":["post-4775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance-news","tag-congress","tag-dysfunctional","tag-irresponsible","tag-job","tag-times","tag-war","tag-world"],"yoast_head":"\n<title>Congress is so dysfunctional and irresponsible it\u2019s only done its job four times since World War II - Finance News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/?p=4775\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"zh_CN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Congress is so dysfunctional and irresponsible it\u2019s only done its job four times since World War II - 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