The Hammer Gets Nailed
This morning House Majority Leader Tom DeLay actual said this (paraphrased):
Oh, really? Brian Riedl of the Heritage Foundation didn't have any difficulty finding budget blubber to fiscally liposuction (via the Corner):
Failure of nerve and political will, with the exception of the first year of the Gingrich "revolution," has always been a Republican failing, particularly when it comes to controlling the growth of federal spending. But the smug self-congratulation evident in Representative DeLay's pronouncement reveals something even more dismaying: a newfound taste for the joys of spending.
You can throw this Beltway-base GOP schism in with illegal immigration as potentially party-splitting issues that elected Pachyderms will ignore at their own political peril.
UPDATE: If Majority Leader DeLay is oblivious, House Transportation Committee Chairman Don "Oink" Young (R-AK) is outrageous:
I'll join Jonathan Rothenberg as far as disseminating Young's Capitol Hill office number (202-225-5765) and DeLay's (202-225-4000). Call or don't call as you choose, and if you do, tell him what you will. All I'll say is that a majority that gained that status through the championing of "small government conservatism" that has been entrenched sufficiently long enough to consider the notion of foregoing a helping of pork to help pay for hurricane disaster relief "moronic" and publicly says so is one that, unless they think their base is collectively deaf, is playing with fire.
UPDATE II: Rush Limbaugh thinks DeLay was employing some reverse psychology.
Government has been pared. . . down pretty good and that nobody has been able to identify any spending cuts to make in exchange for Katrina-related spending.
Oh, really? Brian Riedl of the Heritage Foundation didn't have any difficulty finding budget blubber to fiscally liposuction (via the Corner):
• The federal government cannot account for $24.5 billion spent in 2003.
• A White House review of just a sample of the federal budget identified $90 billion spent on programs deemed that were either ineffective, marginally adequate, or operating under a flawed purpose or design.
• The Congressional Budget Office published a “Budget Options” book identifying $140 billion in potential spending cuts.
• The federal government spends $23 billion annually on special interest pork projects such as grants to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, or funds to combat teenage “goth” culture in Blue Springs, Missouri.
• Washington spends tens of billions of dollars on failed and outdated programs such as the Rural Utilities Service, U.S. Geological Survey and Economic Development Association.
• The federal government made $20 billion in overpayments in 2001.
• The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s $3.3 billion in overpayments in 2001 accounted for over 10% of the department’s total budget.
• Over one recent 18-month period, Air Force and Navy personnel used government-funded credit cards to charge at least $102,400 for admission to entertainment events, $48,250 for gambling, $69,300 for cruises, and $73,950 for exotic dance clubs and prostitutes.
• Examples of wasteful duplication include: 342 economic development programs; 130 programs serving the disabled; 130 programs serving at-risk youth; 90 early childhood development programs; 75 programs funding international education, cultural, and training exchange activities; and 72 federal programs dedicated to assuring safe water.
• The Advanced Technology Program spends $150 million annually subsidizing private businesses, and 40% of this goes to Fortune 500 companies.
• The Defense Department wasted $100 million on unused flight tickets, and never bothered to collect refunds even though the tickets were reimbursable.
• The Conservation Reserve program pays farmers $2 billion annually to not farm their land.
• Washington spends $60 billion annually on corporate welfare, versus $43 billion on homeland security.
Failure of nerve and political will, with the exception of the first year of the Gingrich "revolution," has always been a Republican failing, particularly when it comes to controlling the growth of federal spending. But the smug self-congratulation evident in Representative DeLay's pronouncement reveals something even more dismaying: a newfound taste for the joys of spending.
You can throw this Beltway-base GOP schism in with illegal immigration as potentially party-splitting issues that elected Pachyderms will ignore at their own political peril.
UPDATE: If Majority Leader DeLay is oblivious, House Transportation Committee Chairman Don "Oink" Young (R-AK) is outrageous:
The Wall Street Journal called Transportation Committee Chairman Young's office to ask about giving up his pork, including the $450 million he snatched for 2 infamous bridges to nowhere (one for a town of 50 people that has been adequately served by ferry and the other for a port with one tenant), so that the money could be used for Katrina relief.
Young's response: the idea is "moronic."
I'll join Jonathan Rothenberg as far as disseminating Young's Capitol Hill office number (202-225-5765) and DeLay's (202-225-4000). Call or don't call as you choose, and if you do, tell him what you will. All I'll say is that a majority that gained that status through the championing of "small government conservatism" that has been entrenched sufficiently long enough to consider the notion of foregoing a helping of pork to help pay for hurricane disaster relief "moronic" and publicly says so is one that, unless they think their base is collectively deaf, is playing with fire.
UPDATE II: Rush Limbaugh thinks DeLay was employing some reverse psychology.
posted by JASmius at 2:38 PM
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