Labels: Elections, Jim DeMint, Politics, Pork
Here's the intro: In 2007, the federal government's spending rose to an astounding $2.8 trillion-- the equivalent of $22,000 per household. Growth in federal government spending, however, rarely translates into better services for the American people. Solutions for many public policy problems are best found in the private sector, and then at the State and local level--not in Washington, DC. Indeed, the federal government loses billions every year due to ineffective programs, poor management, waste, and fraud. And, the problem is getting worse. Within the next five years, federal spending is expected to reach more than $3.2 trillion, or about 20 percent of our economy; more than half of this amount is mandatory spending for entitlements. Increasing government spending is not the answer to our country's problems. It is time to get it under control with better solutions and better management of our federal government.Click here for the rest... great stuff!
Labels: Elections, Fred Thompson, Politics, Pork
Common sense talk from Sen. Coburn: We live in an unusual time in which some American politicians are so preoccupied with an anti-President Bush bias that they are willing to oppose common sense transparency measures and look the other way in the face of obvious corruption and mismanagement at the U.N. The greatest threat to the U.N.’s credibility is not our foreign policy, but the U.N. itself.I'm not holding my breath.
Congress can take a bold step toward increasing the credibility of U.N., and also itself, by doing the unexpected thing and maintaining this common sense transparency provision. Taxpayers expect elected officials to safeguard their money, not the U.N.’s penchant for secrecy.
Thomas Sowell is spot-on, as usual:"The real problem is that the political incentives are to spend the taxpayers’ money on things that will enhance politicians’ chances of getting re-elected. There may be enough money available to maintain bridges and other infrastructure but that same money can have a bigger political pay-off if spent building something new instead of maintaining and repairing existing structures."Thanks to the Patriot Post for the quote and photo source.
...It is undeniable that official Washington has “taken its eye off the ball” with respect to bridge safety, and a host of other issues. Yet, the true structural flaw in our political system is not insufficient spending, but misplaced priorities.Read it all.
No area better illustrates Congress’ misplaced priorities than pork-barrel spending. The Federal Highway Administration declared the bridge “structurally deficient” in 1990 and directly warned Minnesota officials. Yet, since 1990, Congress has show more devotion to pork-barrel spending than repair work. ...
Labels: Elections, Politics, Pork, Quote of the Day, Quotes, Thomas Sowell
Has the Sun Set on the British Isle? by Rabbi Aryeh Spero:Something is rotten in the state of England. A series of recent decisions and proclamations by prestigious English institutions reveals an indifference to its own English way of life and a submission to brazen demands made by domestic Islamic groups which could forever diminish the historic English culture. In addition, British organizations are issuing alarming statements telegraphing an official loathing of America and Israel. In fact, a German author has aptly entitled a recent book warning of the pervasive obsequiousness weakening today’s England and Europe: "Hurray, We are Capitulating."Read the rest.
A highly vocal Islamic group in England is demanding that British public schools reshape entire curricula and school activities to conform to Islamic beliefs and attitudes so that Moslem students feel comfortable. In effect, English schools may begin looking and acting more like Islamic schools than what has been the traditional English one. Infected by political correctness and multiculturalism, many top British officials and its Department of Education seem ready to begin testing the "plan", though it will probably result in the discomfort of the millions of majority students who are not Moslem and impose behaviors that effectively sideline British ways in Britain itself.
Schools may soon be required to have separate swimming for boys and girls and require that girls and boys wear swimsuits covering from the neck to the knee. If such a request had come from the Church of England it would have, for certain, been summarily shot down. Certain sports, such as tennis, alien to many Islamic countries, as well as other recreational activities may soon be prohibited. There will be times set aside for prayer, with designated Islamic prayer rooms and rugs; no meat will be served during the month of Ramadan and pork will be prohibited in school throughout the entire year. There are many more demands. ...
Labels: Islam/Radical Islam, Political Correctness, Pork, United Kingdom
10. Allows transfer of funds from holiday ornament sales in the Senate gift shopAlso, here's who got bought.
9. $3 million in funding for sugar cane
8. $3.5 million in additional funding for guided tours of the Capitol
7. $12 million for the Forest Service money which the President requested in the non-emergency fiscal year 2008 budget
6. $20 million for insect damage reimbursements in Nevada
5. $24 million in funding for sugar beets
4. $75 million for salaries and expenses for the Farm Service Agency
3. $165.9 million for fisheries disaster relief, funded through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
2. $40 million for the Tree Assistance Program
1. $100 million in funding for the 2008 national party conventions.
Labels: Iraq, Liberalism, Politics, Pork
Captain Ed:The ascension of Trent Lott as Minority Whip seems especially significant in this regard. Many tried to excuse this by saying that the GOP needs infighters, or that Lott somehow was less egregious than Lamar Alexander on pork, but those are just excuses. Lott has attacked people who want to reform government abuses of taxpayer money and derailed reform legislation intended on exposing the use of earmarks by individual members in order to show taxpayers how influence is bought and sold on Capitol Hill. It's a sorry display of expediency over principle, and every Senator who voted for Lott has underscored the cluelessness of the post-midterm GOP. If Lott truly was the lesser of two evils -- and I don't think he was in this race -- then the GOP has a personnel problem that needs fixing immediately.
The election of the same two top Republican leaders in the House is as short-sighted and indeed asinine a reaction to a devastating election defeat as has been seen in modern political history. Clearly, the Republican solons have no clue what the country wants, no clue how institutionally corrupt they look, and no clue how badly they have betrayed the rank and file of their party, not to mention how badly they have insulted the conservative movement.
Hey guys? Want more of the same? Isn't that what you meant when you voted Republicans out of office?
Good news. The Republican Party delivers!
George Santayana said “those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it,” but barely a week has passed since the GOP lost the congressional majorities it held for 12 years, yet it seems the Capitol Hill Republicans have learned nothing. So much is obvious in Sen. Trent Lott’s return to the GOP Senate leadership and the way in which the lame-duck majority is moving to approve hundreds more secret earmarks.
The Lott decision is simply dazzling in its willful rejection of the obvious.
Regardless of how tomorrow's minority leader vote turns out among House Republicans, conservatives made clear today they overwhelmingly support Rep. Mike Pence (R.-Ind.), the underdog who has waged a principled campaign against the establishment candidate, Rep. John Boehner (R.-Ohio).
According to a survey taken Thursday on HumanEvents.com, Pence won an astonishing 89.29% of the vote. Boehner did so poorly, in fact, that the choice of "neither" took a greater share of the vote than he did.
Boehner: 4.46%
Pence: 89.29%
Neither: 6.25%
Labels: Mike Pence, Politics, Pork
Labels: Conservatism, Immigration, Politics, Pork
Courtesy of the always-fantastic Mac Johnson - Chavez's Citgo Is No Friend of America:What was once a respected “American” corporation, which happened to be owned by and partnered with the National Oil Co. of Venezuela, Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA), is now the American directorate of Chavez’s anti-American revolution.Please consider boycotting Citgo.
Formerly, following the takeover of Citgo by PDVSA in 1990, the top positions at Citgo were all unofficially reserved for American executives, so that Citgo could function in the American business landscape as a competent and independent enterprise, removed from the politics of Venezuela. ...
... Today, the American leadership is gone, replaced by Chavez agents who have moved the company, at a cost of $69 million, from Tulsa to an extravagant new headquarters in Houston—a headquarters perhaps unique in the industry, since it includes a bulletproof citadel near the offices of the top executives. Rivero described it merely as “a crisis room to protect top management.” Perhaps Rivero’s personal past has given him a too literal interpretation of what American corporate leaders mean when they refer to a “hostile takeover.”
Given Chavez’s declared aim of destroying America’s power in the world, it seems relevant to assess just how total is Chavez’s takeover of Citgo. To address this, and developments since the 2005 Times article, I contacted Gustavo Coronel, a founding member of the board of directors of PDVSA, a former temporary member of the Harvard faculty, and once an elected representative in the House of Deputies of the Venezuelan state of Carabobo. He now resides in the United States, where he writes prolifically about the Chavista captivity of his nation. ...... Chavez has also used the program in an attempt to tap into racial politics in America as a source of support. Jesse Jackson and Danny Glover are leading trumpeters of the program, which is targeted especially at African-American and Hispanic neighborhoods and Indian reservations. Chavez draws heavy support in Venezuela from Indian and other minority groups, which he has declared historical victims under his benevolent protection. To further his dream of an anti-American world revolution, he seemingly hopes to exploit America’s race issues so as to philosophically co-opt a portion of the divided population.
Lastly, Chavez hopes (in my opinion) to directly influence congressional policy and interfere in American elections with the program, which was engineered in concert with Rep. Bill Delahunt (D.-Mass.) and is administered (in part) through Citizens Energy, a non-profit co-operative founded and run by former Massachusetts Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II.
By doling out Chavez’s stolen oil at a 40% discount in liberal congressional districts and allowing the incumbent representatives to take credit for it, I believe Chavez seeks to alter the makeup of Congress and indebt Delahunt and other compromised congressmen to him. He has, essentially, turned pork-barrel politics into oil barrel politics and is buying votes for his sympathizers with a new brand of imported pork. SUV drivers are not the only ones with a costly addiction to foreign oil. Certain congressmen, having gotten the first hit for free, are now paying a price for the “free” oil with which they have bribed their constituencies. ...
Today, Citgo is — quite simply —
an unregistered agent
of a foreign government...Today, Citgo is — quite simply — an unregistered agent of a foreign government, propagandizing for and subsidizing the Chavez regime in its neo-Marxist crusade against America’s alleged empire. Yet it is still treated as any other American business. The Citgo sign towers proudly over Kenmore Square in Boston and millions of Americans who were concerned to learn that Chavez seeks an alliance with Iran and North Korea, or who were incensed when Chavez called our President “the devil” at the United Nations last week, continue to mindlessly fill up at Citgo, giving Chavez not only profits from Venezuela’s oil (which is unavoidable) but profits from the retail sales of gasoline and diesel fuel (which is easily avoidable).
It has become clear that Chavez’s Citgo is no friend of America, what is less clear is just why America is still so friendly toward Citgo.
Labels: Glenn Beck, Iran, Mac Johnson, Pork, UN
10. State Licensing BoardsLabels: Conservatism, Pork
Newt's 11 Ways to Say: "We're Not Nancy Pelosi":... A Republican majority in the House that spent the next two months on these eleven issues would go a long way toward clarifying the choice between the San Francisco values of Nancy Pelosi and those of a GOP majority. This refreshing approach would reject the "incumbentitis" of relying on pork-barrel spending for reelection and return to the basic populist conservative values which gave us a majority in the first place.All the details... here.
These 11 issues are all clear and all doable.
- Make English the Official Language of Government.
- Control the Borders.
- Keep God in the Pledge.
- Require a Voter ID Card.
- Repeal the Death Tax, for Good.
- Restore Property Rights.
- Achieve Sustainable Energy Independence.
- Control Spending and Balance the Budget.
- Tie Education Funding to Teacher Accountability.
- Defend America From the Irreconcilable Wing of Islam.
- Focus on Iran and North Korea.
Labels: Conservatism, Iran, Nancy Pelosi, Newt Gingrich, Pork
Steve Verdon from OTB discusses:The bottom line is that since 2000 there has been little to no restraint on spending. Holding spending down at the average during the 1990s for nondefense spending listed in the linked Cato report would cut the current deficit by another $140 billion dollars. The federal government is bloated on pork and if anything it has gotten worse in the last several years. Perhaps the best thing that could happen in regards to controlling spending if is the Republicans indeed lose one or both houses of Congress. I know some will then point out that the Democrats might force the President to withdraw troops from Iraq and that this could be disasterous. While there maybe some truth to this, my response would be, “Perhaps the Republicans should have thought of that before throwing out the ‘fiscal responsibility’ plank of their platform.”I'm with you Steve.
Labels: Conservatism, Mac Johnson, Politics, Pork
Thomas Sowell releases his latest Random thoughts on the passing scene: (browse previous "random thoughts" here)One of the few encouraging signs in the current political scene is that Senator John McCain finished behind several other candidates in a Republican straw poll for Presidential candidates. Apparently his self-centered opportunism has not gone unnoticed, despite the good press he has gotten by pandering to the media.
The pro-amnesty people largely believe the USA has a moral obligation to accept millions of poor people as citizens. The reasoning varies. Hardcore Democrats like Howard Dean and Ted Kennedy see future votes. Cardinal Mahoney sees future parishioners and wants a more compassionate approach toward the poor in general. And some activists believe it is America's fault that there's poverty in Mexico and other countries.
On the peace front, most of those demonstrators believe the USA is a flawed country - and so is Israel - and it's our fault there's terrorism in the world.
The politicians continue the taxpayer rip-off / pork-fest with a $500M earmark for "disruption costs" from Katrina going to the huge $30,000M (revenue last year) defense contractor Northrop Grumman when NG is already in litigation with it's insurance company for money to cover the very same costs. After the vote, Coburn could be seen on the floor animatedly lecturing a silent Cochran. It can be guessed he was promising to hold the Senate's feet to the fire on one earmark after another. Coburn this coming week will propose removing from the bill $500 million to be paid Northrop Grumman for lost income caused by Hurricane Katrina. The outcome will indicate whether last Thursday's events on Capitol Hill truly point to new congressional concern about using taxpayer money.
There can be no "Spanish version" of the national anthem or any other alternate version, unless Congress says so. Congress may conceivably say so, but if I were you I'd expect a solution to Social Security and, for that matter, war with Alpha Centauri before that happens. Until then, try to imagine what Abraham Lincoln would say:
"If you call "Nuestro Himno" a version of the national anthem, how many versions are there?"
Unless you're a talk show host or a careless journalist or a politician snatching at yet another diverting issue or you just plain enjoy being irked, you'll join Abe in answering "One. Calling "Nuestro Himno" a Spanish version of the anthem doesn't make it one."
Cal Thomas wonders where is the leadership amidst Republican ineptness?How could a party go from a visionary like Ronald Reagan who changed the world, not to mention restoring American optimism, to the tunnel vision of his illegitimate offspring who seem to care less about change than perpetuating themselves in office? They aren't even doing a good job of that as the fall election results may show, unless somebody or something quickly lights a fire under them. Never has the derogatory phrase, "Republican in name only," applied to so many who have done so little for so few.
But many reporters, fed a steady diet of alarm by environmentalists, hear "radiation" and automatically link it with a laundry list of horrors, from Three-Mile Island to nuclear bombs. According to Stossel:"They don't worry much about bacteria because bacteria is natural. But radiation is natural too. We are exposed to natural radiation every minute of our lives: cosmic radiation from space, radiation from the ground, and radiation from radon in the air we breathe. Every year, the average U.S. citizen is exposed to natural radiation equal to about 360 dental X-rays."
Dennis Prager talks about the dangers of rewriting our history: The totalitarian temptation is not confined to Nazis and communists; it can rear its head in any society and gradually destroy it. And as the Soviet dissident joke notes, one quick way to identify totalitarian threats to liberty is to identify those who falsify the historical record on behalf of their cause...
...Those who want a fully secular America don't care about what the Left is doing to America's Christian history. And those who loathe cigarettes don't care about what the anti-smoking zealots (again, usually folks on the Left) are doing to photos and films. But, as Shakespeare said about a rose, totalitarian behavior by any other name smells the same -- and that is a lot worse and a lot more dangerous than even cigarette smoke.
...As condescending leftists like California Senate Majority Leader, Gloria Romero, champion the cause of illegal aliens, and supporters of the movement continue to insult those of us who actually understand the concepts of right and wrong by calling us racists and xenophobes, conservative talk radio hosts and political columnists are hammering home the truth of the matter to their audiences.
The illegal alien situation, which was once seen by many as an unpleasant, yet largely uncorrectable problem, is now being taken very seriously by the majority of U.S. citizens, who no longer believe that stopping the flow of illegals into this country is such an insurmountable task. Tens of millions of Americans have finally had enough of their elected officials' indifference to the alien invasion of our country, and they plan to punish those politicians in November unless radical changes are made to our border policies.
In the meantime, companies that chose to shut down production on May the 1st, or that have a history of exploiting illegal workers for profit, are being added to lists circulating throughout cyberspace, and those businesses will soon become the targets of extended boycotts by American consumers who are unwilling to forgive them for helping to fuel the fire of the most vile socio-political movement in recent U.S. history.
Labels: Bill O'Reilly, Christianity, Dennis Prager, John McCain, John Stossel, Politics, Pork, Poverty, Random Thoughts, Ronald Reagan, Ted Kennedy, Thomas Sowell
What McCain has to offer, by Martin L. Gross"Wanted: A president of the United States. Must be willing to work 110 hours a week, setting aside time to fight the light heavyweight champion of the world before lunch. He must be anxious to suffer psychic torture by daily watching Oprah and Katie Couric on television in the Oval Office, then be interviewed by Mike Wallace -- all the while conducting four simultaneous wars throughout the globe as commander in chief. Must be willing to face editorial demonization by the media, tussle with congressional opposition including threats of impeachment from Sen. Russ Feingold, while dealing with Cabinet officers being discharged for corruption. He must be able to handle a low 20 percent approval rating without losing heart or his natural optimism. Most important, the president must be willing to die in office as a symbol of his dedication to the American people, a love affair that will not be requited until 30 years later. Apply Box 101, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W., along with a non-refundable deposit of $10 million."McCain on Imus...
Who among the contenders would be courageous enough to respond to such a daunting ad? Only one: Sen. John McCain of Arizona. Why? Is he so hopelessly ambitious to suffer indignity for his personal goals?
Perhaps, but more important, he seems to be the only one who has that in-born authentic patriotic spirit that requires him to sacrifice for this nation. Plus he seems to have the sense of destiny, shared by Washington, Lincoln, FDR and Reagan -- that he is the only one of his time capable of the onerous job of a president under shattering fire.
Besides, after years of torture by the communists in the Hanoi Hilton, he has already survived the test of the constant attack he will have to undergo as president.
Not everyone loves Mr. McCain. He has made some mistakes along the way, including running against George W. Bush in the 2000 primary, then insulting the religious right, a vital force in the Republican Party.
Liberals are tantalized by him, but they fear his anti-abortion and low-tax stand. Others are wary of his constant agenda of reform in lobbying and campaign financing and his strong anti-pork views.
But most of Middle America trusts him. As for the media, who have sharp teeth for any conservative, it would be hard for them to demonize a wily John McCain as they have Mr. Bush and Dick Cheney.
In summation, Mr. McCain is the only presidential candidate possible for the Republican nomination. And as a plus, he is the only one who can defeat any candidate the hapless Democratic Party can put up, especially Hillary Clinton.
I would rather have a clean government than one where quote First Amendment rights are being respected, that has become corrupt. If I had my choice, I'd rather have the clean government.Here's the video: (posthumous update on 5/11/06 from George Will here)
Labels: George W. Bush, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Phyllis Schlafly, Pork, Thomas Sowell
"The American political system, is a zoo. It's filled with an amazing array of animals: the squawking birds of the liberal aviary; the chatter-class monkeys, disdainful of the average American citizen; the microscopic political slime molds of the capital reflecting pools and the tidal basin; the deceptively cute denizens of the progressive petting zoo, hand-fed with tax-dollars; and the big game, including elected elephants and jackasses, all too comfortable in their collegial preserve and unaware of the lethal hold of the Potomac Pox that has infected them."Animal by animal and cage by cage, Savage introduces you to the motley menagerie of wild beasts that dominate the public square these days. Watch your step when approaching the Widemouth Copperhead, Ted Turner. Do not feed the egos of Stuffed Turkey Alec Baldwin or the tiny well-fed Irish Chicken, Bono. Hide your daughters when Wolf Boy Clinton is around; and don't let them be charmed by the bogus Emperors-New-Clothes reputations of the Big-Toothed Muskrat (Jimmy Carter) or the African Scandal Asp (Kofi Annan). From Katie "Koran" Couric to Ruth "Gator" Ginsburg and Cindy "Shame-Ham" Sheehan, this zoo is stocked with the peskiest -- and farthest Left -- political animals.
"today, the free-thinking men who founded and formed our great country have been replaced by the greedy zoo creatures that now run wild through our streets, across our TV screens, and down to our hallowed halls of government."Introducing Michael Savage's mad menagerie:
Labels: Conservatism, Hillary Clinton, Jimmy Carter, John Kerry, John McCain, Michael Savage, Nancy Pelosi, Politics, Pork, UN
Rep. Jeff Flake is keeping us updated on the "Egregious Earmark of the Week" at Human Events. Tucked away in the Agriculture appropriations bill (H.R. 2744) for fiscal year 2006 is what might literally be called a wolf in sheep's clothing.
This week's egregious earmark brought to you courtesy of Rep. Jeff Flake (R.-Ariz.) comes to the amount of $597,000 and is for the Montana Sheep Institute located in Bozeman, Montana.
"This earmark is baaaaa-ad," said Flake.
The bill was passed by the House 318-63 on October 25, and passed by the Senate 81-18 on November 3. It was signed into law by President Bush on November 10.
Mr. Flake represents the 6th District of Arizona in the U.S. House of Representatives. He serves on the Committee on the Judiciary, the Committee on International Relations and the Committee on Resources.
Stephen Laffey is keeping us updated on the "Taxpayer Rip-Off of the Week".This week's taxpayer rip-off of the week is an agricultural dream and a taxpayer’s nightmare. Last year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture doled out $526 million in agricultural pork, a 44% increase from the previous year's $365 million. Especially flagrant was a Cornell University grant of $1,850,000 for a viticulture (the cultivation of grapes for the purpose of making wine) consortium to serve California, New York, and Pennsylvania.
The grant is particularly outrageous considering that the wine industry is not exactly suffering. Wine sales in the United States grew 5% to a record 627 million gallons in 2003, a retail value of $21.6 billion and a 2.3% increase from the previous year's sales. California alone, one of the beneficiaries of the grant, produced 417 million gallons. According to the Wine Institute, a public policy advocacy association of California wineries, "there has been a steady long-term growth curve for California wine sales . . . The wine market is poised for growth."
As difficult as it is to believe, the Washington insiders have really outdone themselves this time. The federal government is acting like an ATM machine, dispensing cash at every Congressional whim and wish. The bottom line is that our leaders in Washington are acting irresponsibly, and the taxpayers of America deserve better than that.
Mr. Laffey is mayor of Cranston, R.I., and Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate.
Labels: Conservatism, Pork
Just Say No to Earmarks John McCain and I recently delivered a letter to our colleagues announcing our intention to challenge every individual earmark on the floor of the Senate. Many senators, staff and reporters have asked if we are serious. The answer is yes.Another recent post to check out here. I'm personally more worried about our politicians being addicted to spending than I am about our country being "addicted to oil". If we were serious about not being beholden to oil-rich countries in the middle-east, we'd mine the millions of barrels we're sitting on.
I am convinced that forcing hundreds or, if necessary, thousands of votes to strike individual earmarks is the only way to produce meaningful results for American taxpayers. Bringing the Senate to a standstill for as long as it takes would be a small price to pay for shutting down what Jack Abramoff described as Congress's "earmark favor factory." The battle against pork is crucial. Pork is the root cause of the unholy relationship between some members of Congress, lobbyists and donors. Inside Congress, the pork process is effectively a black market economy: Thousands of instances exist where appropriations are leveraged for fundraising dollars or political capital. It is delusional to claim Congress can redeem its relationship with K Street without eliminating earmarks. The problem is not lobbyists. The problem is us.
Last week, Gov. Murkowski announced a $1.2 billion state budget surplus. He proposed spending part of that windfall to hire a public relations firm to counter the perception that Alaska politicians milk taxpayers.
Instead of trying to convince the country they are not porkers, perhaps Alaskan politicians should stop being porkers! Since 1999, the Alaska delegation has brought home more than $3 billion in federal pork, thanks mostly to former Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska). The state has ranked number one in pork per capita since CAGW began calculating the statistic in 2000, pulling in $984.85 worth of pork per resident in 2005. AFMB board members include business partners Trevor McCabe (former aide to Ted Stevens) and state Sen. Ben Stevens (son of Ted Stevens). Gov. Murkowski (whose daughter is Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski) also has a vested interest in the bridge to Gravina Island; his wife owns acreage there and development on the island would drive up property values.For favoring wasteful pork-barrel projects that may also benefit his own family, proposing the use of tax dollars in a hopeless attempt to prove that Alaska politicians are not porkers, and especially on behalf of its 2,733 members and supporters in Alaska, CAGW names Gov. Frank Murkowski Porker of the Month for January 2006.
Labels: Conservatism, John McCain, Middle East, Pork
Eleven years after the ink dried on the Contract with America, the Republican majority has failed to deliver on its promise of a smaller, more efficient government. Total federal spending has swelled by 67 percent, from $1.5 trillion in 1995 to almost $2.5 trillion in 2005. Waste, fraud, and abuse are rampant. The ticking time bombs of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are for the most part ignored, along with the outrage of grassroots fiscal conservatives.
The Big PictureSince it gained control of Congress in 1994, the Republican Party has presided over an explosion in federal spending and the national debt.
The federal budget is comprised of two types of spending discretionary and mandatory. Discretionary spending is what Congress and the President haggle over and dish out during the annual appropriations process. Accounting for about 40 percent of total spending, the discretionary budget encompasses functions like defense, homeland security, education, and highway construction. Funded at Congress’s “discretion,” such programs theoretically could be zeroed out every year.
On the other hand, mandatory spending is controlled or “mandated” by law. The mandatory budget grows every year without much review, modification, or oversight from Congress. This means that approximately 60 percent of the federal budget is essentially running on auto-pilot. Decades-old entitlement programs like Medicare operate much as they did when they were first enacted, not taking into account changing demographics or economic realities. More often than not, such programs are expanded rather than reformed.
The discretionary budget most clearly illustrates Congress’s penchant for spending and provides the most outrageous examples of pork and waste. Yet it is the mandatory part of the budget that presents the bigger long-term threat to the nation’s taxpayers and economic stability. Entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security are structurally unfit to withstand changing demographics. An aging population, longer life expectancy, and rising medical costs will compound to create a fiscal nightmare for young Americans stuck with the bill.
The same basic structural deficiencies are driving the unsustainable growth of all mandatory programs. Mandatory spending is projected to nearly double over the next decade. Spending for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid now accounts for 8 percent of GDP. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), that figure will rise to between 12 and 17 percent in 2030 and to between 13 and 28 percent in 2050.
Unfunded obligations are not included in the Treasury Department’s official debt figure of $8 trillion. Total shortfalls in Social Security and Medicare the difference between expected revenues and promised benefits over the next 75 years will be $4 trillion and $9 trillion, respectively. An additional $21 trillion is needed for Medicare’s supplemental obligations to cover items such as the prescription drug benefit. All of these figures combined equate to a total national debt of $42 trillion.
Congress cannot continue borrowing forever. At some point, creditors would stop lending the U.S. money, possibly triggering an Argentina-style economic meltdown. Eventually, the government will either have to make sharp spending cuts or drastically raise taxes to pay its bills.
Therein lies a major problem because Americans are already overtaxed. When accounting for the taxes and fees collected by all levels of government, the average American pays somewhere around half or more of his or her income in taxes. In fiscal 2005, the federal government spent $21,956 per household, taxed $19,147 per household, and ran a budget deficit of $2,809 per household, according to The Heritage Foundation.
The Government Accountability Office estimates that to balance the budget in 2040, the government would have to slash total spending by about 60 percent or raise taxes to 2.5 times today’s level. Alternately, Congress could eliminate all federal programs except Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid by 2045. So much for those pesky constitutional functions like defense!
A Day of Reckoning is coming and big changes are inevitable. The longer Congress keeps its head buried in the sand, the more painful the changes will be for taxpayers and beneficiaries of government programs.
As Government Grows, So Does the Waste
Not surprisingly, government has grown along with the attendant waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement. In the discretionary part of the budget, Congress annually funds scores of agencies, programs, and policies that serve political or parochial interests, do not demonstrate results, duplicate efforts in the private sector, or circumvent procedural checks for transparency and accountability. In its 2005 edition of Prime Cuts, CAGW issued 600 recommendations for the federal government that could save taxpayers $252 billion in one year and $2 trillion over the next five years.
The auto-pilot status of mandatory programs leaves them especially vulnerable to waste and fraud. A 2001 report by the Department of Health and Human Services estimated that Medicare fraud, abuse, and payment errors cost taxpayers $11.9 billion a year. Not only are the federal government and states being over billed by Medicaid providers, the government is overpaying for prescriptions, with Medicaid reimbursements exceeding pharmacists’ true costs by $1.5 billion. Middle and upper-income seniors are voluntarily impoverishing themselves by either hiding or transferring assets to become eligible for Medicaid’s long-term care coverage.
Over the past five years, funding for the Food Stamp Program has increased from $20.1 billion to $33.4 billion. Currently, people who qualify for programs funded under Temporary Assistance for Needy Families are automatically eligible for food stamps, even though they may have incomes above the eligibility level. Also, non-citizens become eligible for food stamps after a mere five years of residency.
Another way in which mandatory spending programs waste tax dollars is by worsening the very problems they are designed to solve. Mandatory spending as it exists encourages dependence on the government at the expense of personal responsibility. In a 2004 report on the retirement prospects of baby boomers, the CBO stated that “about a quarter of baby-boomer households have so far failed to accumulate significant savings. They appear likely to depend entirely on government benefits in retirement.”
Anatomy of a Betrayal
With the dramatic increase in spending and alarming budget forecasts, fiscal conservatives are left to wonder about the Republican Party’s betrayal of its stated principles. Apologists say that along with power in a democracy comes the “burden of leadership.” A ruling party must represent the views of the nation as a whole and not just the base voters that put it in power. Compromise becomes a moral and practical imperative, or so the theory goes.
Republicans have not just compromised with the forces of big government, but fully embraced them. The No Child Left Behind Act has sparked a rebellion at the state level for its exorbitant price tag and federal meddling. The Medicare prescription drug benefit was the biggest expansion of the welfare state in 40 years. The $170 billion farm bill vastly increased federal farm subsidies. The $286.5 billion highway bill exceeded the President’s original price ceiling by $30.5 billion and was bursting with a record number of pork-barrel projects.
Congress cannot get off the hook by painting its actions as a manifestation of the “will of the people.” A statesman is duty-bound to follow the dictates of his conscience in accord with sound policy and must seek to persuade the voters of the rightness of his actions. Political scientists have documented for decades that most people do not have meaningful, well-formed views on most issues. Basing decisions on the whims of the masses is the mark of a demagogue, not a leader.
Hurricane Katrina and a New Hope
Sadly, it took the death and destruction of a Category 4 hurricane to make Congress politically willing to consider budget cuts for the first time in eight years. Initial estimates for the cost of rebuilding the Gulf Coast reached $200 billion. This led to a resurgence of attention to fiscally conservative initiatives that could be used to offset the emergency spending. But members of Congress only got serious after conservative activists held their feet to the fire.
To at least save face in light of the withering criticism of excessive spending, Congress is moving forward with its first budget reconciliation bill in seven years. The reconciliation process is a special procedure designed to speed the passage of deficit reduction legislation. Fiscal conservatives in the House boldly challenged House leadership and raised the reconciliation savings target from $35 billion to $50 billion. The House approved a $49.9 spending reduction (H.R. 4241), while the Senate passed a $35 billion reduction (S. 1932). Although these initiatives are commonly referred to as spending “cuts,” this characterization is too strong. Even if an amount near the House version is approved in conference, it will only restrain growth in mandatory spending by one-tenth of one percent over five years.
Entitlement reform on the state level is also showing promise. In October, the Bush administration approved Florida Governor Jeb Bush’s (R) new Medicaid plan, which limits spending for its 2.2 million beneficiaries and gives private health care plans new latitude to limit benefits. South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford (R) has proposed a similar program. Such Medicaid reforms could ignite a movement similar to the national welfare reform that began with changes made by former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson (R) in the 1990s. Democratic and Republican governors are united in their stance to reform Medicaid, but the program is a unique federal-state partnership and Congress must get on board to slow the program’s growth, which has soared 85 percent from $160 billion in 1997 to $295 billion in 2004.
The Democrats have offered no substantial cuts of their own; nor has the party acknowledged the seriousness of the coming entitlement crunch. This is clearly demonstrated by the rhetoric used in the debate over the budget reconciliation. Rep. John Spratt (D-S.C.), CAGW’s Porker of the Month in November, said the burden will be borne by “Single mothers seeking child support from deadbeat dads…Students struggling to pay loans for their college education, foster children, the sick and poor whose only access to health coverage is Medicaid, or whose nutrition depends on food stamps.” Statements like these are clearly ridiculous because Congress will have to cut mandatory spending at some point (unless it plans on taxing Americans into the Stone Age) and the changes were mostly administrative. Pretending that such action can be avoided forever is just passing the buck to future generations.
Conclusion
With neither party offering a solution to the looming train wreck, the best place for activists to turn may be their fellow citizens. There is a reason that politicians fear getting thrown out of office if they consistently vote for spending cuts: In many states and districts, they probably would. It is the great paradox of American democracy that most people favor smaller government and lower taxes in the general taxes in the general sense but tend to oppose cuts to specific programs. When such cuts are put on the table, common sense and sound thinking are drowned out by cries of sympathy for the children, the elderly, the Alaska Whaling Commission, or whatever group will be affected in the short term.
Labels: Conservatism, Politics, Pork
Top 10 Most Outrageous Liberal Media Quotes From the Last 20 Years
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Glenn Beck ~ 9am-noon
Rush Limbaugh ~ noon-3pm
Sean Hannity ~ 6pm-9pm
Michael Savage ~ 9pm-midnight
(M-F, Times Eastern U.S.)
Bill Bennett ~ 6am-9am
Laura Ingraham ~ 9am-noon
Dennis Prager ~ noon-3pm
Michael Medved ~ 3pm-6pm
Hugh Hewitt ~ 6pm-9pm
(M-F, Times Eastern U.S.)
