It seems like Congress keeps getting worse when it comes to doing the federal budget each year.  But when you look at the record of Congress, there has been budget dysfunction for many years.

For example, I have been going through some of my father's letters from his early days on Capitol Hill, and he often commented on how the Congress had failed to finish the appropriations bills on time.

That was in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

When I started covering Congress as a reporter in the 1980s, the record wasn't much different.  I clearly remember President Reagan telling Congress that he would not accept giant Omnibus bills at the end of the year.

And then Congress did the same thing months later and jammed a bunch of spending bills together into one package and adjourned for the year, forcing the President to sign it into law.

For this exercise, I went back and looked at the last eight years of Congressional budget work.  The story is pretty much the same each year, no matter who was running the show in Congress.

Both parties are equally lame when it comes to leadership on the budget, which is supposed to be finished by September 30.

In 2002, two bills were approved by late October, while 11 others were put into one Omnibus that wasn't given final approval until February of 2003.

In 2003, six bills were finished by late in the year, the rest were rolled into one bill and not approved until late January of 2004.

In 2004, four bills were done by mid-October, the rest lumped together in December.

In 2005, two bills were done by early August, the rest were finished by the end of the year.

In 2006, two were done by the end of the year, with everything else punted into 2007.

In 2007, one bill was finished in November, the others were rolled into a giant Omnibus bill that was approved just before Christmas.

In 2008, two bills were done before Election Day, the others weren't tackled until early 2009.

In 2009, five bills were done by November, the rest rolled into an Omnibus in December.

In 2010, the Democratic Congress is not exactly moving quickly on the bills for Fiscal Year 2011.  We'll see if any get to the floor in coming weeks.  The House only has 24 scheduled work days until Labor Day.

When was the last time the Congress actually finished all of the appropriations bills by October 1, the start of the new fiscal year?  

Don't make me laugh.