Congress should debate matters of public interest, not sneak riders into law

Not long ago, a favorite phrase in Washington was that a president's judicial nominees deserve a straight up-or-down vote.
The same ought to be able to be said about legislative initiatives that have the potential to change the political, cultural or natural landscape of the nation. Yet, some members of Congress -- and, at times, the administration -- seem perfectly willing to use legislative sleight of hand to push important proposals into law without those proposals actually getting a vote on their merits.
Two such egregious examples presented themselves in recent days.
Showdown avoided
The first became moot when the United Arab Emirates announced that it was divesting itself of U.S. port operations in the DP World deal. That announcement avoided a showdown between Congress and President Bush.
But until the announcement was made, Congress had showed itself willing to go to battle with the president on the Dubai port deal, but not on a level playing field. Rather than introduce specific legislation that would have prohibited the transfer of port control to the UAE-owned company, the House Appropriations Committee attached the ports legislation to a $91 billion bill providing funds for hurricane recovery and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The president had vowed to veto the ports legislation, and Congress was apparently willing to dare him to do so by linking the ports issue to a vital appropriations bill. It is clever strategy -- legislatively and politically -- but it is bad public policy.
Attaching unrelated piggyback proposals onto vital legislation -- most often appropriation bills -- defeats the purpose and spirit of an open legislative process. Legislation should stand or fall on its merits and elected officials should have to vote on specific important proposals so that the American people can know what their representatives are up to.
While the ports rider was cooked up in the House, the other example comes from the Senate.
ANWR again
On a party-line vote, the Senate Budget Committee Thursday allowed an amendment to the budget reconciliation bill that will open the way for oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
In effect, this action takes a controversial national energy policy out of the normal legislative process by holding the entire budget hostage to what is arguably a piece of special interest legislation.
Whether drilling in ANWR should be allowed, whether it is a reasonable response to the energy needs of the nation, whether the environmental damage to a pristine area would be real or has been exaggerated by opponents are issues that should be debated in Congress and voted on accordingly.
Shortcuts and legislative tricks undermine the people's trust in their government. Now, with the amount of money being spread by Washington lobbyists at an all-time high, members of Congress should be especially sensitive to the suggestion that their votes are for sale. If they care what people think, they're not showing it.