You'd never know it from the media's obsession with Bill's dick and Monica's laundry habits, but there's actual work being done in Washington D.C. this summer, and much of it is heinous. The dirtier linen is contained in the House and Senate's budget proposals for FY 2000 and beyond. Unlike last election year, when Clinton beat up on the Republicans for slashing Medicare and grinding government to a halt, the cuts this time around are more subtle--but no less pervasive, no less likely to find an ideological ally in the White House, and far more likely to be ruining peoples' lives long after Monica's book has been remaindered.

The House budget is the more "conservative"--that is, heavy on military and other corporate pork, slash the rest--of the two documents. It would cut $45 billion in discretionary spending over the next five years, as part of a resolution passed in June calling for $101 billion in cuts. The $45 billion would go beyond the freeze on non-military discretionary spending already agreed to by Clinton. The Republican authors avoided specifics--it is an election year--but committee documents suggest the "guidelines" adopted would get another $30 billion from entitlement programs, about $25 billion of which would come from spending (Medicaid, Workfare, etc.) that goes to the poor and working poor. Only about a quarter of entitlement spending now actually goes to such folks.

In other words, in a time when every pundit in D.C. is telling us that the economy has never been better (yet the gap between the richest and poorest Americans continues to widen), the war on the poor continues. Shame that's not as interesting as groundless speculation about secret testimony.--Geov Parrish

Congress is still worried about tax cuts, too. For the wealthy, of course. Republicans in June came up with a new capital gains tax break intended to help speculators. They also kept a loophole accidentally put into a law last year by a congressional aide's error; it allows families inheriting estates worth more than $17 million to save $200,000 in taxes. Cost to the feds: about $880 million over the next ten years. And, finally, there's the marriage thing: some more-than-moral posturing about how the sanctity of marriage is violated by tax code that, in some cases, rewards enamored taxpayers for staying single, turns out to be more of the same. The "fix" to this long-standing quirk in tax law, according to Citizens for Tax Justice, awards two-thirds of the tax cut to couples with average incomes of at least $184,000. Lucky thing queers are all already fabulously wealthy.--G.P.

So who's buying all these favors? A new study profiles the folks who gave $200 or more to a congressional candidate in 1996. Forty-six percent had a family income of at least $250,000; only five percent had a family income of under $50,000. Over 80% were at least 45 years old; 80% were men; 40% held a post-graduate degree, usually a law degree or MBA. Quick quiz: what does the phrase "taxation without representation" mean to you? Bonus: how 'bout the equally timely inverse, "representation without taxation"?--G.P.

And the winner of the headline-of-the-week contest is an article that appeared in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on July 30th, entitled "Gang members make great GIs, Army expert says." Unfortunately, the article didn't say if Chuck Clapper, the "Army expert," was once a gang member himself. But he did say: "Gang people are perfect Army members--they understand a chain of command and are not afraid of anything." Which begs the question: does basic training, a brutal hierarchy, and military service turn soldiers into gangsters? You decide!--Maria Tomchick

The General Motors strike ended in a fizzle, when the United Autoworkers union accepted a few assurances from GM that it would not cut jobs at its parts plants in Flint, Michigan. But GM announced at the end of its board meeting on August 3rd, that it would simply sell off its Delphi parts business next year. That's the price unions pay when they accept crumbs instead of demanding the whole cake. To be fair, it's hard to maintain support for a massive strike when the mainstream media paints you as a bunch of cranks who just want to keep consumers from buying their new cars of choice, and the company is suing you in a hostile legal environment. On the other hand, workers on the picket line in Flint told the UAW leadership that they were willing to stay out on strike until Labor Day, and possibly until late December. Once again, the leadership of a major trade union has shown its willingness to sell out just to pose (however briefly) as "guys who won a few concessions from GM." Whoop-dee-doo.--M.T.