Congressional aides and White House staffers (all unelected officials) do the bulk of writing on these bills. Combine that with legislators who want to push things through (so the legislation is not subject to public scrutiny) just as soon as they have the assurance that their particular pieces of pork are included, and you have the disastrous results we are currently observing. At least there is a silver lining to this story.
Silver lining in several ways. I’m sure 1600 is cursing a blue streak tonight.