It may not be a first, but it is certainly a rarity: As it crawls toward passage of a financial regulation bill, Congress actually appears set to eliminate a regulatory agency. Allowing the Office of Thrift Supervision to fade away is a good move on the part of Congress.

Most Americans are either unfamiliar with the Office of Thrift Supervision or have long forgotten that it is the agency created to oversee the savings and loan industry. Because there are few savings and loan institutions these days, the regulator has become a bureaucracy with little purpose. Washington is studded with agencies and regulators that serve little sensible purpose, but they all persist. That Congress has recognized the opportunity to shed one small layer of government is unusual, but very welcome. If the financial regulation bill survives this week in its current form, it may very well cause the end of a no-longer-useful agency. The taxpayers will be the winners if that comes true.