CONGRESS'S MAIN DUTY, making laws, is complicated and time consuming. Before a bill becomes law, it must undergo thorough study, debate, and often alteration by a legislative committee. After weeks or months, if the committee considers it worthwhile, the bill makes it to the House or Senate floor, where members debate and alter it again. The proposed legislation then passes to the other house for more debate and changes. Many bills go to both houses at the same time. If each house produces a substantially different version of the bill, the legislation undergoes still more debate and then compromise by a joint committee, a select group of members from both houses. If the bill survives all of these laborious steps, it finally goes to the president, who either signs it into law or vetoes it. Considering the complexity of this system, it is no...