Oh noes! George Will discovers that the Bush-Cheney "admin" sucks!

Cross-posted from Congress Matters.

Ha ha! Where ya been, George?

Seriously, this is the worst kind of day late, dollar short mewling I've ever seen!

A new Capitol Visitor Center recently opened, just in time for the transformation of the Capitol building into a tomb for the antiquated idea that the legislative branch matters. The center is supposed to enhance the experience of visitors to Congress, although why there are visitors is a mystery.

What was it, George? Ignoring federal and international law on torture? The disregard for Congressional subpoenas? The 1000+ signing statements?

Nah! This is George Will we're talking about! He's incensed over... money!

Congress's marginalization was brutally underscored when, after lawmakers did not authorize $14 billion for General Motors and Chrysler, the executive branch said, in effect: Congress's opinions are mildly interesting, so we will listen very nicely -- then go out and do precisely what we want.

Normally -- as grating as it is -- I'd welcome Will into the circle of those finally able to see the noses on their own faces. And as much as I appreciate the back-up (late though it be), the truth is that this:

The president is dispensing money from the $700 billion Congress provided for the Troubled Asset Relief Program. The unfounded assertion of a right to do this is notably brazen, given the indisputable fact that if Congress had known that TARP -- supposedly a measure for scouring "toxic" assets from financial institutions -- was to become an instrument for unconstrained industrial policy, it would not have been passed.

...just doesn't take proper account for the fact that there was simply no reason to believe that this Congress wasn't creating an instrument for unconstrained industrial policy. In fact, there was no other way to interpret the circumstances of the TARP's creation. No one who had watched this "administration" in action could ever have doubted that the White House believed going in that it would encounter no serious resistance for any diversion of any amount of funds, up to and including outright theft. Similarly, no one who had watched this Congress in action could ever have doubted that they were never going to provide any serious resistance for any diversion of any amount of funds, up to and including outright theft.

And indeed, plenty of TARP funds are being stolen ahem... paid out as exactly the kinds of bonuses the legislation supposedly outlawed (but really didn't), even as the "administration" prepares to demand the second tranche in the face of Congressional bluster that they'll withhold it.

They won't. They're already preparing to give it away, with yet another round of assurances, no doubt, that there'll be "vigorous oversight."

I mean, look at this.

December 12th:

Congress would vote against releasing the second tranche of $350 billion of funds under the financial rescue package if Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson requested them, a leading Democratic senator said Friday.

Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, and the Democrats' chief negotiator on the financial rescue package, said that decision would be due to anger over the handling of the first tranche of funds by the Treasury.

And here's a report from just a week later, December 19th:

Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat, said he plans to introduce legislation with Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd to release remaining funds in the $700 billion package next month.

By the way, it should be noted here that the Congress doesn't have to pass any legislation at all in order for the "administration" to have access to the second tranche. The deal is that the money can be withheld if Congress passes a resolution of disapproval when the "administration" requests it, but no new legislation is necessary for them to get their hands on it. Frank and Dodd, though, are hoping to supplant the existing legislation with this new bill that will affirmatively release the next $350 billion, but with a new set of strings attached. Good luck with that. I'm sure they'll totally listen this time.

Anyway, I don't know what planet you've been on, George, but these guys never had any inkling that this TARP business was supposed to go any other way.