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(Fox News) President Obama on Saturday accused Capitol Hill lawmakers of leaving behind both Washington and unfinished legislative business until after November because they are more concerned about their re-election campaigns, amid criticism he is side-stepping key United Nations meetings next week to hit the campaign trail.
The Senate closed the Capitol early Saturday after passing a spending bill that will make sure the government won't shut down Oct. 1, the start of the new budget year. The so-called continuing resolution passed by a 62-30 vote.
The Republican-controlled House left Friday after passing the Stop the War on Coal Act –- a bill to held the coal industry’s fight against administration energy and environmental policies and hurt Obama's political prospects in coal states such as Ohio and Virginia.
Obama accuses lawmakers of being "more worried about their jobs and their paychecks" than their constituents, in his weekend radio and Internet address.
Meanwhile the world's leaders are arriving in New York for next week's United Nations General Assembly meeting, but the president has no plans to meet privately with any of them.
However, he and first lady Michelle Obama will make an appearance on "The View," a freewheeling TV talk show more likely to reach voters than the president would with the diplomacy he is skipping at the United Nations.
Unlike presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush did during their respective 1996 and 2004 re-election seasons, Obama is skipping the face-to-face meetings with counterparts where much of the U.N. works gets done, leaving Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to pick up more of those sessions.
Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said last week that Obama not planning to meet in with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is "confusing and troubling."
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