Can Washington ever change?

We are in the midst of another of these threatened government shutdowns. Republicans in the House passed a continuing resolution to fund the government for another few months. The funding level is at exactly the numbers agreed to in the recent debt ceiling legislation except that the money to go to FEMA for disaster relief has been raised and off-setting cuts have been made elsewhere. This keeps the new funding in line with the levels agreed to after the fierce battle over raising the debt ceiling. The Democrats in the Senate reject this new funding on the ground that the new FEMA money should just be an addition to overall federal spending with no offsets. The Democrats argue that this is the way that the federal government has always responded to natural disasters. In other words, the Democrats are arguing for business as usual, Washington style. In three wor
ds, the Democrats' position is "Let's spend more!"

It makes me wonder if there can ever be true change in Washington. How can Harry Reid and the Democrats push for more spending after everyone of them voiced support for keeping spending in check, balancing the budget, getting the money flow under control, etc. They all talk the talk, but none of them walk the walk.