Congress Has Other Issues to Deal With

Archaeo-blogger Rick St. Hilaire has demanded that Congress drop its other important work on items like the Federal Budget and instead pass a bill imposing "emergency import restrictions" on Egyptian cultural artifacts. But St. Hilaire, who purports to be an expert in cultural property issues, should know that the Cultural Property Implementation Act already allows for consideration of such proposals under certain circumstances.  If the Egyptian Government believes such assistance is necessary, it will no doubt ask for it.  Iraq was a special case; there was no government to "make the ask" at the time.