Pork-Bill Becomes Law
President Bush today "hit the road" and went to House Speaker Denny Hastert's home district in Illinois to sign into law the recently-passed highway bill (previously discussed in depth here and here). During the signing ceremony, he praised the bill, saying it "accomplishes goals in a fiscally responsible way."
Today's USA Today editorial is closer to the mark, however:
"Late in Ronald Reagan's presidency, he decided to take a stand against Congress' habit of squandering money on pet projects of no national value. He vetoed the 1987 highway bill because it was $10 billion over his budget and included more than 100 projects demanded by members of Congress.
'I haven't seen this much lard since I handed out blue ribbons at the Iowa State Fair,' Reagan said at the time.
He should see what's happening now. President Bush flies to Illinois today to sign a transportation bill that's $12 billion fatter than he wanted and uses accounting gimmicks to pretend otherwise. Worse, it contains a whopping 6,371 congressional 'earmarks,' a 50-fold increase over the number Reagan rejected."
The paper goes on to outline some of the more egregious examples of pork projects in the bill, which I've listed before, and concludes by saying:
"The earmarks divert nearly 10% of the bill's spending to congressional whim, reducing the amount state transportation departments have to allocate among bottlenecks, dangerous intersections and other priorities. ...
Congress eventually overrode Reagan's veto, but he had the right idea. Instead of celebrating the transportation bill today, Bush should be following his example and sending it back to Congress for a thorough de-larding."
Not a word this morning from Bush about the need to be more fiscally responsible. Not even a brief finger-shake at Congress to hold down spending and decrease pork projects. This president's idea of "fiscally responsible" is looking all too much like his concept of "mission accomplished."
'I haven't seen this much lard since I handed out blue ribbons at the Iowa State Fair,' Reagan said at the time.
He should see what's happening now. President Bush flies to Illinois today to sign a transportation bill that's $12 billion fatter than he wanted and uses accounting gimmicks to pretend otherwise. Worse, it contains a whopping 6,371 congressional 'earmarks,' a 50-fold increase over the number Reagan rejected."
The paper goes on to outline some of the more egregious examples of pork projects in the bill, which I've listed before, and concludes by saying:
"The earmarks divert nearly 10% of the bill's spending to congressional whim, reducing the amount state transportation departments have to allocate among bottlenecks, dangerous intersections and other priorities. ...
Congress eventually overrode Reagan's veto, but he had the right idea. Instead of celebrating the transportation bill today, Bush should be following his example and sending it back to Congress for a thorough de-larding."
Not a word this morning from Bush about the need to be more fiscally responsible. Not even a brief finger-shake at Congress to hold down spending and decrease pork projects. This president's idea of "fiscally responsible" is looking all too much like his concept of "mission accomplished."
posted by JBD @ 11:51 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
You should go to www.cagw.org to see what this conservative gorup says about the spending bills. McCain was one of the few who voted "no." It's funny that we don't hear Grover Norquist issuing inflammatory statements about how RINOs damage the brand, as he now puts it. The GOP "brand" of fiscal conservatism is a farce on the national level.
But...but...but Democrats are the ones who spend all the money and Republicans are the fiscally responsible party, right?
Ahhh... to wave this in the face of the 17 year old 'Young Republican' that vehemently and blindly defended the GOP's 'core principles' despite facts to the contrary.
It's amazing how quickly we forget our history and resort to old stereotypes.
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