Dick Gephardt’s inflation

THREE months have elapsed since Congress assembled after the election, and almost nothing has been done. Budget talks lag; reform of government pensions has dropped off the radar screen; promised task forces on tax reform and welfare have not even been convened. Given all this, the reopening of Congress after the Easter recess should have been accompanied by the return to Washington of impatient politicians, eager to start work. But, on the eve of the reopening, you could have searched the capital in vain for Dick Gephardt, the Democrats' House leader. For he was absent, in New Jersey, in a classroom cluttered with drum kits and cheerleaders' batons, delivering a speech in front of a banner advertising the Maroon Raiders Marching Band.