Nobody likes being the victim of a bait and switch. Whether you’re following up on an advertised air fare, or a taxpayer following legislation through Congress. The recently enacted omnibus spending bill, the final farm bill, and the Senate's attempt to undo National Flood Insurance Program reforms, however, are unexpected fiscal gut punches to taxpayers. It appears lawmakers in the second session of the 113th Congress are doing their best to make taxpayers feel like suckers. 

Taxpayers waiting to see what the powers-that-be determined to do in the final spending bill for fiscal year 2014 can be forgiven for wondering how lawmakers settling the difference between $82.2 billion for overseas contingency operations (OCO) in the House bill and $77.6 billion in the Senate bill, can come up with the Frankenstein's monster spending level of $85.2 billion. Adding insult to fiscal injury, the House had actually voted to cut billions from their initial funding level to get to the $82 billion level. And remember, we're supposed to be ramping down operations in Afghanistan. The real reason the tab went up is that spending that should be in the base budget is burrowing into emergency OCO to evade the budget caps Congress set for themselves. Strike one.

This week, the House passed the final conference report of the trillion dollar Farm Bill that will set the nation's highly subsidized agriculture and nutrition programs for the next five years. To be honest, we didn't like what either the House or the Senate came up with. But jeez, how can it have ended up worse than either bill? Here's how. The House – by voice vote – adopted an amendment to publically disclose lawmakers and cabinet officials receiving crop insurance subsidies. That was quietly stripped from the bill. Also, generous limits on total payments and modest restrictions on subsidies for millionaire farmers that both chambers had agreed to were also watered down so as to accomplish nothing. The product of the secret negotiations is, quite frankly, worse than either the House or the Senate bill had been by themselves. Strike two.

The Senate hasn’t gotten to the final farm bill yet – they were too busy undoing flood insurance reforms they put in place just a year and a half ago. Years after the disastrous hurricane season of 2005, the federal flood insurance program was still $17 billion in debt to taxpayers. In July 2012, Congress enacted changes to the program that would gradually move subsidized properties to risk-based rates in an attempt to better inform people of their flooding risk and reduce the program’s reliance on the Treasury. Months later, Superstorm Sandy struck and left the program more than $24 billion in debt. To pay off claims Congress even had to increase the amount NFIP could borrow from the Treasury.  Thwarting attempts to responsibly address some of the sticker shock faced by a subset of the policyholders, the Senate instead decided to completely delay rate increases for a wide range of properties for four years – longer than the flood insurance program is authorized to exist! Thankfully House Leadership has indicated it wants to deal with flood insurance affordability issues in a way that is responsible to both policyholders and the vast majority of taxpayers who are not beneficiaries but are being stuck with the tab.

Too often Congress talks a good game, even brags about various reforms and cuts they are going to do to get some credit. Then when the cameras dim and the focus moves elsewhere, they lower their voice as they lower the bar on reforms, and go back to business as usual. In the end, we all get the Congress we elected and we deserve – it’s up to us to call them on their shenanigans.