U.S. Congress is sinking to new lows

By George F. Will

Published: Sunday, Dec. 23, 2007 12:03 a.m. MST

WASHINGTON — Hell bent on driving its approval rating into single digits, Congress adjourned after passing an omnibus spending bill larded with at least 8,993 earmarks costing at least $7.4 billion — the precise number and amount will be unclear until implications of some obscure provisions are deciphered. The gusher of earmarks was a triumph of bipartisanship, which often is a synonym for kleptocracy.

This was the first year since 1994 that Democrats controlled both houses. Consider Congress' agreeably meager record: It raised the hourly minimum wage from $5.15 to $5.85 — less than the $7 entry wage at McDonald's — thereby increasing the wages of less than 0.5 percent of the work force. Rebuffing President Bush, who advocates halting farm subsidies to those with adjusted gross incomes of more than $200,000, the Senate also rejected — more bipartisanship — a cap at $750,000. This, in spite of the fact that farm income has soared to record levels, partly because Congress shares the president's loopy enthusiasm for ethanol and wants more corn and other agricultural matter turned into fuel.

Although Congress trembles for the future of the planet, it was unwilling to eliminate the 54-cent-a-gallon tariff on Brazilian ethanol. But our polymath Congress continued designing automobiles to make them less safe (smaller) and more expensive. It did this by mandating new fuel efficiency — a 35 mpg fleet average by 2020 — lest the automotive industry design cars people want. And Congress mandated a 12-year phaseout of incandescent light bulbs.

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