CONGRESS: GO HOME, STAY HOME?

In the frantic atmosphere before its long summer vacation, Congress
was up to much mischief last week. With much important work left
undone, both chambers focused mostly on partisanship and pandering.

If this is all they've got, perhaps they'd best not bother to return
after Labor Day and let the voters sort things out in November.

The Republican-led House put reefer madness over states' rights,
rejecting an amendment to a funding bill for the departments of
Justice, State and Commerce. The amendment, supported by Democrats and
conservative Republicans, would have, sensibly enough, barred the
federal government from interfering with states' medical marijuana
laws. Washington is among nine states in which voters have approved
such laws. Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., played to the crowd back home,
accusing the amendment of "sending the message to young people that
there can be health benefits by smoking marijuana." (Gasp!)

Another amendment to the same budget bill would have curbed the USA
Patriot Act's permission to law enforcement to require book dealers
and libraries to surrender records of individuals' purchases and Web
site visits -- absent traditional subpoenas or search warrants.

But the Bush administration raised veto threats and -- perhaps only
coincidentally -- new threats of terrorist attacks. Republican
leadership held the voting open until there were enough votes to
defeat the amendment. A particularly gullible Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn.,
changed his vote, which helped defeat the amendment, after he said he
was shown Justice Department documents asserting that terrorists have
communicated over the Internet via public library computers.

Accountability fared poorly in the Senate, as well. Friday's
much-anticipated special report hammering prewar U.S. intelligence did
not address the administration's role in the use of that tainted
intelligence to paint the threat posed by Iraq. That phase of the
report probably will not come out until after the election.

Also in the Senate, attempts to decorate a class-action lawsuit bill
with numerous unrequited pieces of legislation led to a ban on all
amendments and the bill's defeat Thursday. There may be merit in
restricting so-called venue shopping through state courts, but a
substantive debate must wait.

Republicans in both chambers are threatening votes on a constitutional
amendment to ban gay marriages. An amendment would require two-thirds
votes in each chamber, so this is more about using a vote to bash
incumbents than changing the Constitution.

The only merit in all this mischief is that it gives voters -- less
than four months from a major national election -- a gauge of the
effectiveness and credibility of the majority party, the Republican
leadership in both houses of Congress.