THE CONGRESS

The sweetest morsels in big tax bills, like the ones passed by the House and Senate last week, are often scarcely noticed. In the House bill, for example, "bakery drivers" was deleted from the list of occupations to be treated as employees. Instead, they're to be independent contractors, which means bakeries no longer need to pay Social Security, Medicare or unemployment taxes for the guys who deliver croissants and Twinkies. Why distinguish between them and haulers of veggies or dry cleaning, for that matter?

Part of the reason could be that an ardent supporter of the change, Nebraska Republican JON CHRISTENSEN, is a chef who knows how to mix the dough of legislation. His Omaha district is home to a Metz bakery, a Pepperidge Farm depot and several facilities belonging to the country's largest baking firm, Interstate Bakeries Corp., maker of Wonder bread. Federal records show Interstate CEO Charles A. Sullivan and his wife contributed $3,000 to Christensen in 1996. The American Bakers Association, which gave $46,700 to House Republicans and $1,000 to Christensen in 1995-96, calls the new rule's enactment by the Committee on Ways and Means an "immaculate conception." Now that's real, old-fashioned baking.

--By Chandrani Ghosh