As Congress returns to work, it faces a moment of truth: Will the House of Representatives ever repeal the Tea Act of 1897? Don’t laugh. The answer may reveal more about the fate of big government than reading Republican primary tea leaves. The Tea Act may not be big bucks, but it’s about a big problem – the difficulty of killing a government program.

Taxpayers hearing the history of the Tea Act of 1897 may be forgiven for wanting to throw a few politicians into Boston harbor. Enacted in 1897, the Tea Act calls for federal inspectors to touch, sniff and taste samples of imported tea to test their “purity, quality, and fitness.” A Board of Tea Experts was created for professional sniffing and swilling. For almost a century, this Board enjoyed a federally funded tea-time, even after being rendered obsolete by the creation of the Food and Drug Administration. Unbelievably, Congress has tried to shut down this anachronism not once but three times. First, Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) got Congress to pass Public Law 103-111 in 1993 barring the use of federal funds “to pay for expenses of the Board of Experts on Tea.” This meant no fees or travel reimbursements for Tea Board members. But the Feds quietly kept holding their tea tasting parties, consuming about $130,000 in staff salaries and expenses each year.

Until September, 1995. That’s when Senators Reid and Hank Brown (R-CO) discovered the party wasn’t over. This time, they killed it by barring taxpayer money for staff and support costs. But the conference committee on the bill must have resembled the Mad Hatter’s tea party in Alice in Wonderland. The Washington Post reported Dec. 15, 1995 that “last minute lobbying and legislative maneuvering” resulted in a final bill that still allowed funding to staff the Tea Act of 1897. Back to business-as-usual — the FDA just proposed new tea tasting regs, as it must under the law. No more mister nice guy. On Feb. 1, Senators Brown and Reid won unanimous Senate approval of a bill, S. 1518, that repeals the entire Tea Act of 1897. Period. Reportedly, the House Ways and Means Committee is inclined to pass the bill.

Listen for the whining from industry. The Tea Association of the U.S.A., Inc. in New York, NY wrote Senator Brown on January 18 to argue that a user fee was supposed to have paid all costs. Except that the same letter admits that the higher fee “has not yet been levied for collection from the industry.” Oops.

The letter also notes that “The Tea Act stands as a first line of defense against terrorist threats to contaminate tea.”

Let’s hope the House stands as the taxpayers’ last line of defense