Who Congress works for
The across-the-board sequester cuts are a supreme case of Washington dysfunction. They were designed to force a political deal that leaders couldn’t figure out how to reach on their own, and then legislators proved unable to reverse the law that most of them were against to begin with.
Recent weeks have shown, however, that Congress is actually quite capable of getting things done if the bill in question is a narrow one that directly affects legislators’ primary demographic—people with a lot of money.
Shortly after the sequester took effect in March, Congress reversed its furloughs for meat safety inspectors, without whom meatpacking plants aren’t allowed to operate. Then in April it eliminated furloughs for air traffic controllers, too. Americans of means could rest easy: the times we live in may call for sacrifice, but that doesn’t mean a gap in the supply of steak or that business travelers have to tolerate flight delays.
