Why, after several years of continuing resolutions every three months or so, did Congress pass a budget covering the next 23 months?

It used to be that the norm was to annually pass about a dozen bills that combined to make the federal budget.

Starting around 2009, a new pattern emerged: Continuing resolutions, which I call the “lazy legislators’ way out” or LLWOs.

LLWOs are nothing more than agreeing to the resume the latest legitimate budget, which would be a sweet deal for liberals. But, for conservatives, something starts to smell fishy.

Democrat Nancy Pelosi was the speaker of the House from 2007 through 2011, when Republican John Boehner began holding the gavel. One would think Republicans would want a budget more suited to their principles, values and standards.

Flash forward to 2014. Republicans control both the House and Senate, so one would think it was time for a conservative-friendly budget, right? Nope. More LLWOs.

Now jump to the fall of 2015. Suddenly, outgoing Speaker Boehner pushes through a two-year budget, with 79 Republicans voting with 187 Democrats to pass the bill. Voting against the budget were 169 Republicans. The Senate was no better — 18 Republicans sided with 46 Democrats and so-called independents to vote for the budget. Voting against were 35 Republicans; one Republican senator didn’t vote at all.

Some claim that Boehner “cleared the way” for incoming Speaker Paul Ryan. I say it’s a strange way to help — cutting the legs out from under the new speaker through major departure of the normal budget process and leaving no control over budget matters for the duration of the current congressional seat holders.

Boehner handed conservatives a final betrayal before leaving his post.

Greg Paquet

Smithfield