Majority Leader Trent Lott and his allies are claiming that a roll call vote would do nothing but hurt two Republican incumbents in tough re-election battles: Sen. Alfonse D'Amato (N.Y.) and Sen. Lauch Faircloth (N.C.) would have to pull themselves off the campaign trail and return to Washington.

That is pretty thin, especially for a bunch of politicians who like to talk about personal responsibility. When the government chooses to spend such an incomprehensibly large amount of money, legislators should be willing to take credit or blame for what results.

The Senate is expected to act by late Wednesday at the earliest.