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08/07/2005: OINK or OUCH
"Congress' passage of a porcine obscenity of a transportation bill crafted by GOP leaders was further confirmation of the Republicans' emergence as big spenders every bit as reckless as the Democrats. The $286 billion measure – supported by every San Diego-area lawmaker – contains many worthy projects. But the final tab was inflated by $23 billion to cover the cost of 6,371 special requests from lawmakers – more than 40 times the "earmarks" seen during the Reagan years. How out of control was it? Not only did Alaska Republican Rep. Don Young, the worst porkmeister in history, succeed in securing hundreds of millions of dollars for roads and bridges that will barely be used in his near-empty state, but he also got $3 million to pay for a documentary about Alaskan infrastructure improvements. In other words, he got taxpayers to fund a movie about his success in snagging pork. We are not making this up.
But such excess is the norm since George W. Bush took office – and the bloat goes far beyond the rise in defense and homeland security spending after 9/11. Domestic outlays went up by 36 percent during his first term, putting Bush in LBJ's class as a big spender.
So the next time you hear a Republican lawmaker describe himself as a fiscal conservative, please groan aloud. This isn't Ronald Reagan's GOP. It's Don Young's. And the nation is much the worse for it."
Transportation bill reflects GOP profligacy San Diego Union-Tribune.
Even Irwin Seltzer (Weekly Standard) while delusionally daydreaming in this article title Goldilocks Economy, that "...if [the bAdmin] had the skills needed to explain to voters that it has been a fine steward of their economic interests, these legislative extravagances notwithstanding. For we are living in an economy that is about as good as it gets." [Cough...Ghaaak... Sputter!! Excuse me while I spew coffee out through my nose. LOL] has this to say about the highway bill:"...And the highway bill ($286 billion over six years, up 31 percent from the last highway bill) makes the energy bill seem like chump change. It contains so much pork, including many hundreds of millions for everything from bike paths to bridges-to-nowhere in South Carolina and to no one in Alaska (both states homes to key committee members), that only a president who feels his economic record needs shoring up would consider signing it. It is, after all, $28 billion above the president's veto limit of last year, a difference that only Washington politicians such as House speaker Dennis Hastert would dare precede with the adjective "only."
Maybe Mr. Seltzer forgot to add the qualifier of "this is as good as it gets" for an economy under The Biggest Spenders of All Time - Robber-Barons of the GOP and their Deficit Genius/ What-Me-Worry-About-Red-Ink President.
Karen on 08.07.05 @ 11:29 AM CST
