Congress flaunts smoking ban

The District of Columbia City Council passed a law that will make indoor work sites, bars and restaurants smoke-free by January. The notable exception is Congress, where tobacco leaves dot the frescoes, and knee-high ashtrays stand sentry outside the House chamber.

Flouting its host city's new smoking ban could enhance the impression that Congress holds itself above its citizenry. It is immune from the Freedom of Information Act and many federal civil rights and labor laws. It can vote itself raises even if the economy tanks, has health insurance while as many as 46 million Americans go without, and its members soon will be free to puff away in their congressional digs while the rest of Washington's smoking public is forced out into the cold.