EDITORIAL: Politics gets in the way of worthy legislation

Election-year gamesmanship has derailed two important pieces of public business in Congress - compensation for sick 9/11 rescue workers and job-creating aid for small businesses.

Politicians angling for partisan advantage is nothing new. But police, firefighters and volunteers who face a Sept. 8 deadline to accept a settlement of their 9/11 court claims are being forced by last week's intransigence to make that decision without knowing what, if anything, Congress will offer as an alternative. That's unconscionable. So is rejecting small-business loans and tax breaks when one in 10 Americans is out of work. These shouldn't have been paralyzingly partisan issues.

House Democrats were so worried that Republican amendments to the 9/11 bill would force tough votes - for instance, to exclude rescue workers who are illegal immigrants - that they used a process that allowed no amendments, but required a two-thirds vote for passage. The bill went down 255 to 159, with all but 12 Republicans voting no. Democrats shouldn't have hidden behind rules that made passage so difficult. And Republicans should have agreed not to offer "gotcha" amendments.

In the Senate, where $12 billion in small-business tax breaks and a $30-billion loan program were at stake, Republicans filibustered after Democrats limited them to three amendments.

In each case lawmakers elevated election year politics over governing. Rescue workers and the jobless deserve better. hN