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 Americans hold Congress in stupendously low regard: A recent uptick in popularity has moved the Federal legislature’s approval rating from ten to eleven percent, meaning only cable giasaurus Comcast is held in more contempt by the public. This pervasive disdain is more than matched by the contempt the Congress apparently holds for the public that elects it. In no area is this disrespect for the citizenry more obvious than in the Federal budgetary process.

Much like a student who waits until the last day to write a term paper, the five-hundred-thirty-five lawmakers we’ve sent to Washington have spent the session dither-dallying, waiting until the final days of the session to enact the most fundamental piece of legislation, the Federal budget. By-passing the normal procedure of holding committee hearings, entertaining proposed amendments and debating the bill’s details on the floor of each house, a budget deal was hammered out in last minute, behind-closed-door negotiations that included the Speaker of the House, the Senate majority and minority leaders, and members of the White House staff. (Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic House minority leader, was conspicuously omitted from these dealings.) 

The result was a 1603-page bill that was rushed to a vote without debate. The goal was to ensure the government was funded and a shutdown avoided, an outcome for which neither Party wished to accept responsibility. In a political sense, then, with neither party ending up with egg on its face, the negotiated deal crammed through the Congress was a success.

But, as they say, the devil is in the details. Senator Elizabeth Warren, the left-leaning populist Democrat, pounced on sub-rosa provisions that had been quietly inserted into the bill without public discussion. She railed on the Senate floor against an amendment that weakened sections of the Dodd-Frank financial reform act regarding limitations on the trading of derivative securities by banks using Federally-insured deposits. The amendment, Warren claimed, has been written by lobbyists for Citicorp. In the bizzaro world of Congressional politics, Warren found allies among conservative Republicans who saw the possibility of a future public bailout of Wall Street banks being resurrected without discussion.

While this was the most-publically discussed holiday gift stuffed into the budget stocking, the Secret Santas were keeping their elves busy with other goodies. Some Senators attacked another stealth amendment which increased the amount an individual could contribute to a political party from $32,400 to $324,000. While members of both parties complained about the ultimate triumph of Citizens United over McCain-Feingold, those in the know described the increase as a maneuver by party leaders to re-direct funds away from Super PACs and back to themselves.

The best piece of pork was a potato. In a win for spud lovers everywhere, the white potato lobby managed to have an amendment inserted into the bill that decreed that the starchy tuber can now be purchased by the government’s WIC (Women, Infants and Children) supplemental food program. The USDA, relying on recommendations from the Institute of Medicine, had previously banned the purchase of fresh white potatoes with WIC subsidies.

Taking these antics as a whole, it is clear why most Americans feel that our elected officials answer first and foremost to special interests. The lack of respect with which most of our legislators regard the public is exceeded only by the disregard they have for the processes of governance.

Before they dis us, they dis themselves… Just sayin’.