Trick or Treat: Congress faces 'chamber of horrors' as government funding deadline looms

It was mid-July. And the House of Representatives was already done for the summer. That’s right around the same time Halloween decorations like gigantic yard skeletons and Reese’s peanut butter and chocolate pumpkins began materializing in stores.Those weren’t phantasms. Halloween is the next big consumer holiday on the calendar.I mean, what would you buy to decorate for Labor Day? But there’s a spooky alignment between July and Halloween when it comes to Congress. If you begin to see Halloween paraphernalia in July, that’s practically October in Capitol Hill terms. The reason? Congress didn’t