A Little Late
But better late than never when it comes to curbing Federal spending. John Fund at the Opinion Journal takes a look at the stand Republican Senators Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Jim DeMint of South Carolina took to block the excessive porkiness of the last few spending bills that the Senate was trying to sneak in before the leadership changes hands in January. By blocking the nearly 10,000 earmarks in those pork festival spending bills, they effectively forced the various Federal department onto a diet by making them have to live with last year's budgets. Poor babies.
It's been years since federal agencies have screamed this loudly about fiscal discipline being imposed on them. GOP Sens. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Jim DeMint of South Carolina have decided to take a stand against overspending by objecting to the nearly 10,000 earmarks, or member-sponsored pork projects, larded throughout the spending bills Congress is currently considering.
Their obstinacy has convinced the leadership of the departing Republican Congress that they probably won't be able to pass spending bills in next month's short lame-duck session. Instead, they are likely to pass a stopgap "continuing resolution," which will continue funding all programs at last year's level until the new Democratic Congress passes its own versions of the funding bills.
Mr. Coburn says the decision not to pass earmark-stuffed catchall spending bills could save taxpayers a cool $17 billion. All 10,000 earmarks in the pending bills will expire if they aren't passed by the end of the year. Mr. Coburn says the decision of the congressional leadership to instead go for a continuing resolution is a sign Republicans are learning some lessons from their stinging loss of Congress three weeks ago. "By either staying home or not voting Republican, many voters were sending a message that they don't want to give the spending favor factory that Congress had become their stamp of approval," Mr. Coburn says. "It's time that message was heeded."
Nonetheless, the cries of pain are mounting now that it looks as if many federal agencies will have to get by until late January or even later with the same amount of money they got last year. Of the 11 spending bills covering the fiscal year that began on Oct. 1, only those governing defense and homeland security have become law. Appropriators are beside themselves that a continuing resolution that restrains spending is on the table. Rep. Jerry Lewis, who is ending his stint as chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, calls it a "catastrophe." A spokeswoman for Mr. Lewis's Senate counterpart, Thad Cochran, says it is "irresponsible."
Effectively, Coburn and DeMint have forced the issue onto the Democrats. They will have to step up and pass the spending bills when they take control. After campaigning on fiscal responsibility, their first test will come almost from the first day they take over. If they continue the favor factory politics, they will have already lost a major battle. This was far from an irresponsible move.
It was a bit of fiscal responsibility that should have been done a lot sooner.
By Don Singleton, Monday, 27 November , 2006 @ 12:23 pm
Your trackback system is still requiring the anti-spam word; there is no way to enter it in a trackback.
My post is here