Congress Gets Something Right

Congress gets a lot of grief these days. Deservedly, too. No “buts” about it.

And yet, before the unsatisfying process of legislative compromise denudes its valuable gestures — before lawmakers meekly decline to pursue their prerogatives and defer in supine fashion to the executive branch, to unelected regulatory agencies, to podcasters and celebrities — the legislature sometimes gets things right. The House-passed National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is, by and large, one of those things.