House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) said yesterday that Republicans can claim an "ongoing victory" as fiscal conservatives.
There is no fat left to cut in the budget, he suggested.
Not surprisingly, anti-waste groups laughed, then rattled off the thousands of pieces of pork the Republican-led Congress has approved. But they weren't alone. Fiscal conservatives had the same reaction. So did the conservative Washington Times. You're probably laughing now.
How empty is DeLay's spin? Since 2000, the Republican-led Congress has added $2 trillion to the federal deficit, including $303 billion (since 2001) for nonmilitary, non-homeland security spending. You may recall that there was a budget surplus prior to 2000.
This year's expected deficit is $331 billion, not including any money supporting areas ravaged by Hurricane Katrina ($62.3 billion thus far).
But that's didn't stop DeLay from offering empty conservative spin. "(A)fter 11 years of Republican majority we've pared (the budget) down pretty good."
Republican leaders have been under pressure to find ways to pay for Katrina relief. Some Republicans wanted to offer an amendment, including cuts, to pay for hurricane spending but were denied the chance under procedural rules.
"This is hardly a well-oiled machine," Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) told the Times. "There's a lot of fat to trim. ... I wonder if we've been serving in the same Congress."
American Conservative Union Chairman David A. Keene told the paper that federal spending already was "spiraling out of control" before Katrina. "Excluding military and homeland security, American taxpayers have witnessed the largest spending increase under any preceding president and Congress since the Great Depression."
Tom Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW), told the Times that if Mr. DeLay wants to know where to cut, "there are plenty of places to reduce."
His group soon will release a list of $2 trillion in suggested spending cuts over the next five years, and he said Congress also could cut the estimated $20 billion to $25 billion in pet projects that make their way into must-pass spending bills each year.
CAGW and the conservative Heritage Foundation also suggest rescinding the 6,000-plus earmarked projects in the recently passed highway bill. That was also suggested last week by Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Tom Coburn (R-OK).
***
This article first appeared at Journalists Against Bush's B.S.
Article comments
1 - Kurt
Well said! Perhaps those duffel bags full of cash we handed out to "contractors" in Iraq were bigger than expected. Heck, how about corporate welfare - the biggest recipients of out tax dollars? Delay is a crook and a liar.