As a former "Hill rat" who trawled the US Capitol every day talking up members on both sides, I can't help but chuckle at the latest hot topic in Congress. The Senate is about to approve a mandate that the US justice department investigate its counterpart, the House of Representatives.
This isn't a case of internecine congressional warfare, but a political hot potato over a small sentence inserted in the dark of night to a massive transportation bill in 2005. The sentence sent $10m to a small town in Florida for a highway expansion it didn't even want -- but one that happened to be very profitable for political patrons of the conservative Don Young, who chaired the transportation committee at the time.
Now the Senate is debating a bill tweaking that 2005 transportation law, and all sides agree that the justice department should step in to investigate who added the mysterious $10m. Never mind that Young's aides have already confessed they did the deed -- a likely constitutional violation. Never mind that the Bush administration has a habit of going easy on Republicans like Young during the inquiry process. Asking the justice department to step into this is bound to help.
