Before dismissing the 101st Congress as entirely useless, voters might consider some of its more notable achievements. During their three-week wrangle over the federal budget, the lawmakers exposed a decade's worth of economic gospel as falsehoods while inventing a new set of myths to replace them. They transformed the budget-making process, usually about as gripping as watching weeds grow, into a demolition derby. They invited the middle class to divorce its interests from those of the rich and its sympathies from those of the poor. And they reinforced the suspicion that in a crisis, the first instinct of elected representatives is to plant a time bomb and run for cover.
But last week Congress at least cleared the way to passing a budget, thereby averting what would have been the second government shutdown since Columbus Day. After a bitter partisan fight, Congress struggled to reconcile House and Senate versions of a bill designed to cut $500 billion from the deficit over five years. The final plan was bound to extract more revenues from the most affluent taxpayers than the bipartisan proposal that was dumped by the House two weeks ago. But it was also certain to inflict pain on middle-income earners, who were already outraged at the lawmakers' willingness to tax them more heavily than the wealthiest Americans.
Once the budget agreement is safely tucked away, probably this week, the lawmakers will be free to go home and schmooze with their constituents -- but given the mood in the land, they may dread the prospect. "Look, you tell me, when is the last time you saw a Senator walk into a bar to sit down and talk with the working people?" asks Frank Gasparik, a California salesman and part-time songwriter. "Never. They're probably afraid somebody'd hit them with a bar stool." A reasonable fear, if pollsters are right about the level of voter disgust with the budget debacle. "Will I pay new, higher taxes, even if I think they're unfair?" asks Will Brennan, a business representative for the electrician's union in Chicago. "What choice do I have? I can't go throw tea in the harbor."
The rising middle-class resentment to new taxes, especially those perceived as unfair, provided the backdrop for last week's budget denouement. In a belated rush to present themselves as the champions of working people, House Democrats seized every chance to portray their Republican colleagues as lackeys of the well-to-do. These Democrats rammed through a plan that did not include any increase in the tax on gasoline but did retain regressive levies on alcoholic beverages and cigarettes. They proposed a smaller increase in Medicare premiums than the defeated pact would have. Most important, the House Democrats would have taken a whack at the rich by hiking the marginal tax rate for couples earning more than $78,400 to 33% from 28%, with an extra 10% surtax on earnings above $1 million. "What we're doing is getting our house in order," boasted Dan Rostenkowski, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. "Tonight, equity and fairness make a comeback."