This must be the political equivalent of The Perfect Storm for House and Senate Republicans.

More (although not unexpected) bad housing numbers yesterday, an obviously jittery Wall Street (Dow industrial average down 250 today), today's unexpectedly bad report on job growth, Larry Craig, and the hint of a new scandal must have House and Senate Republicans more worried about fighting hourly fires than developing and implementing a comprehensive strategy for dealing with the appropriations battles and Iraq debates coming the rest of this month.  And with the president's job approval rating still low and the White House now saying the president will sign the student loan bill after signalling it would be vetoed, GOP representatives and senators may not be counting much on the White House to help them.