Lame Ducks Lay an Egg

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Congress and Reagan clash over spending, missiles and new taxes

Army-style cots lined the cloakrooms of the Senate, while weary members, waiting for crucial issues to be rushed to a vote, suffered through hours of filibustering by a pair of obscure freshmen. The ever patient Majority Leader, Howard Baker, seemed dazed by the unfolding disasters while his punchy staff joked that the White House had decided it wanted to impose a "toy tax" before Christmas. After almost 30 straight hours of throbbing confusion, the chaplain rose to offer a prayer. "Father in heaven, the Senators are very weary in body and mind," he said. "In such circumstances, heat tends to transcend light, minds function with less discernment and precision."

The special lameduck session of the 97th Congress seemed to be at once bogged down by cantankerous obstructionism and buffeted by legislative grandstanding. Efforts to pass overdue appropriations bills for the fiscal year that began last October (the ostensible reason for the special session) were a dismal failure. The attempt to pave the road to prosperity with a nickel-a-gallon gasoline tax was stalled by a renegade filibuster. Ronald Reagan and his congressional critics were still at swords' points over the MX missile, and no one dared even mention Social Security, a beast that some had foolishly dreamed the special session would tame.

"It's like a hockey game out there," said Colorado's Republican Senator, William Armstrong. "If there's a trivial issue it's handled scrupulously, with hearings and rules. But really important issues are handled in an atmosphere of chaos and pandemonium." So it seemed all too logical that the Donnybrook Fair that erupted on Capitol Hill last week would culminate in another brawl between Congress and the White House, this time over public jobs spending, that threatened to shut down the Federal Government.

Congress could have avoided the sorry spectacle by following its own budget process. But by the time the lawmakers adjourned in October, they had passed only three of 13 appropriation bills needed to keep the Government running. Like lame ducks with their heads cut off, the members were able to approve only a few more funding bills during the special session and were forced to lump all other appropriations into a catchall continuing resolution that provides temporary funds for everything from missiles to Medicaid.