Each day another story comes out about the games and outright deceptions being run on the public and members of Congress as the effort to enact a budget plan drags on. The process is so cumbersome and mutated because Congress is unable or unwilling to enact spending plans in the right and proper way, through appropriation bills to fund duly authorized programs. That is the way the civics books say it should be done. It has not gone that way for a very long time.
As a result, we end up with the opaque system of reconciliation and continuing resolutions that allow for every special interest under the sun to push for special privileges for themselves while working to harm competitors. There is zero regard for the working people affected, the communities hurt, and the greater national interest considered.
A case in point surfaced recently that shows just how Congress operates. In the tax law there is a little thing called a duty drawback incentive. Originally developed by Alexander Hamilton in 1789, the duty drawback is designed to support American business, increase exports, and block foreign dumping in the U.S. It has worked extremely well at all those things, which may be why there is an underhanded, quiet campaign to repeal the duty drawback.
