The one-two punch of a looming government shutdown and the reliance on stop-gap spending measures to fund the government is a stark reminder of the rampant dysfunction in the halls of Congress.

There are just a few days left before Oct. 1, the start of the federal government’s new fiscal year and the deadline for Congress to pass some sort of a spending bill in order to avoid a government shutdown.

Congress failed to make funding decisions for fiscal 2014 on its regular time-frame, and now the debate on Syria has jumped to the front of the line. That means Congress is going to make some very last-minute decisions about spending in the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1. Even more last-minute than they had already planned.

The House, the Senate, and President Obama agreed on something. Surprised? Well, technically they agreed to agree on something in the future. Several weeks ago, leaders of the House and Senate announced they’re planning to pass a continuing resolution in September in order to fund the federal government past Sept. 30, which is the last day of fiscal year 2012. If lawmakers don’t pass any spending legislation by that date, the government will shut down on Oct. 1 when fiscal 2013 begins.

Late Friday night, Democratic and Republican congressional leaders and President Obama reached agreement on a spending bill that will fund the last six months of Fiscal Year 2011, which ends on September 30, 2011. The agreement is actually two bills -- a seven day continuing resolution that will allow time ...