Thought of the day: Couldn’t reform-minded liberals and pork-busting conservatives agree that we should have randomized evaluations of almost everything the government does in social welfare, health care, etc.? When will Washington join the experimental revolution and find out which programs actually work?

Update 5/12 10:19 PM: In comments, Dave White points to a CRS study titled “Congress and Program Evaluation: An Overview
of Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) and
Related Issues” (PDF) that provides considerable detail on the key issues in this debate.