Elected representatives from both parties are guilty of alienating voters by wasting time on relatively minor issues, procedures, and mudslinging rhetoric. Voters are frustrated when they see the men and women they sent to Congress bicker over ?nuclear options? and ?traditions,? but are the best of friends when trading votes for bridges in the Alaskan wilderness, rainforests in Iowa, and increases in other discretionary spending.

There are hundreds of important economic, social, and moral issues Congress must address each year. Every issue is important to someone, but quite frankly some issues are more important than others and deserve Congress? immediate attention. Unless Congress acts this year to fix Social Security and replace the tax code, all the roads, bridges, and discounted prescription drugs won?t much matter. Senate traditions won?t put gas in the tank or fill Grandma?s prescriptions.

While the Senate fiddles, the nation burns. Small businesses and families are choked by a tax code that punishes success and the entrepreneurial spirit, illegal aliens are crashing our borders like shoppers at an after-Christmas sale and, unless fixed immediately, mandatory Social Security and Medicare spending will soon consume 60 percent of the federal budget.

Accurate polls show that an overwhelming majority of the American public favors having the option of investing their payroll taxes in personal retirement accounts. The voters clearly signaled their support for the president?s agenda on Election Day 2004 by returning the president to the White House, a Republican majority to the House of Representatives, and an increased Republican majority to the Senate.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said that this so-called deal protects the rights of the minority. The rights of the minority should be respected, but not at the expense of denying the will of the majority. A majority of voters elected a Republican president and Republican majorities to both Houses of Congress.

Working to appease the minority party is not working on the agenda favored by American voters. Republicans are the number one ranked team, but they would apparently rather play for a tie against an unranked opponent.

Successful teams don?t play for a tie. They play to win.