Congress quiet about relief for struggling airlines.

Finally, in what I can only describe as a rare act of sanity, Congress so far appears to be doing nothing to help the ailing airline industry. Read it here.

Airline workers, retirees and travelers may have thought that with four of the nation's largest airlines now in bankruptcy court, Congress would be rushing to help the beleaguered industry. But a combination of free-market ideology, antipathy to unions and "relief fatigue" has produced a subdued response on Capitol Hill to this week's Chapter 11 filings by Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines.

"There is a sense of airline financial relief fatigue among members, who feel that we have already rushed to the well on their behalf with post-Sept. 11 support and it's now up to them," Rep. James Oberstar of Minnesota, the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Transportation Committee, said in an e-mail interview.