It has been more than a quarter of a century since Congress did its duty to finish appropriations bills on time by Sept. 30. Instead, Congress has waited until the last week before Christmas and then made all spending decisions in a nil-considered rush, with virtually no public debate or amendments, and crammed the lot into a single monstrosity of a bill.

It wouldn’t be so bad if all this last-minute legislating splurge dealt only with spending. But Washington’s high-priced lobbyists have figured out that the scramble at the end of each year creates a perfect opportunity to add on presents for their wealthiest clients. Nobody is going to read a 4,155-page bill that spends $1.7 trillion in the day or two between publication and voting. So the annual spending omnibus fairly jingles with extraneous legislation that couldn’t pass in the weeks and months before.