This article reports that Congress is cranky about how colleges spend money. Over the last three years, regulation-minded lawmakers have investigated university endowments, intercollegiate athletics, and presidential pay, but that grilling has largely ceased. A presidential election has dulled legislative ambitions, and Congress has its hands full trying to renew the Higher Education Act. Senator Max S. Baucus, a Montana Democrat who is the Finance Committee's chairman, has publicly supported Senator Charles E. Grassley's efforts, and other Democrats have gotten into the action as well. Rep. Peter Welch, a Vermont Democrat, introduced a successful amendment to the Higher Education Act that would require colleges to report on how much of their endowments are spent each year on student aid.