National Priorities' Mattea Kramer provides an update – in handy cheat-sheet format – of what's happening with the federal budget when Congress reconvenes in September.

It's become clear that Congress rarely has the voter in mind at all, unless that voter’s a cash-laden heavy hitter.

Kramer, a senior research analyst at the National Priorities Project, hopes that politicians take use the financial cliff as an imperative to do some long-term budgetary planning.