Today in fake problems: Senators complaining that they had to come back to Washington, cutting their holiday vacations short, to fix a problem entirely of their own stubborn creation:

But for once, those lawmakers were fully united, if only around their sadness and frustration at being stuck in Washington in a holiday week, peering over the edge of the fiscal abyss.

“This is no way to run things,” complained Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, who checked off the various backyard sports he longed to be playing with his children: football, soccer and some golf.

[...]

Mostly, people just looked mad. Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, his tie slightly askew, looked as gloomy as the clouds hovering over the Capitol dome. “I didn’t realize how much I didn’t want to be here until I got here,” said Mr. Schumer, who had taken the red eye from San Francisco, where he had arrived only days earlier to visit his daughter.

Poor Senators, elected to a prestigious office, so despondent that they have to work like suckers, who couldn't even be cheered by Taco Thursday (which is actually a thing on Capitol Hill). I shed one solitary tear for you, people who make $174,000 a year.

UPDATE: Full credit goes out to Arizona's representation in the Senate, who both showed up this week (unlike some people...we're looking at you, Barbara Boxer). Kyl's appearance is especially notable, since he's done with the gig in January.