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Bush puts nation over a (pork) barrel

Date Posted: December 12 2003

WASHINGTON - Not long ago, Republicans were the self-proclaimed "party of fiscal responsibility." They stood for the elimination of the federal deficits, reduced government spending and lower taxes.

They've been successful with the low taxes, but when it comes to federal deficits and government spending, Congress is "spending money like a drunken sailor," said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a former Navy officer. "And I've never known a sailor, drunk or sober, with the imagination that this Congress has."

Congressional spending has gone up 9 percent this year, and 21 percent the last two years. Non-military discretionary spending rose by 8.5 percent last year, more than double the 4 percent cap President Bush vowed to enforce.

George Bush and the Republican Congress are completely in charge of spending in the federal government, and they have turned a government surplus in 2000 into a record deficit of $374.2 billion as of October.

"Elected in 1994 as the party of limited government, Republicans seem to have abandoned any effort to limit spending," opined a Nov. 25 Wall Street Journal editorial, referring to the Medicare bill, aid to farmers, transportation projects and education. "Worse, the current Republican president has shown no inclination to control it, either."

The president hasn't vetoed a single spending bill in three years, despite numerous "pork-barrel" projects proposed by lawmakers.

"Any economist will tell you we cannot have this level of debt of increasing deficits without eventually it affecting interest rates and inflation," McCain said. "Those are the greatest enemies of middle-income Americans and retired Americans."

Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Nebraska), who voted against the new Medicare package, said "Republicans used to believe in balanced budgets. Republicans used to believe in fiscal responsibility, limited international entanglements and limited government. We have lost our way. We have come loose from our moorings. The Medicare reform bill is a good example of our lack of direction, purpose and responsibility. If we don't get some control over this out-of-control spending and policy-for-the-moment decision-making, we will put America on a course that we may not be able to recover from."