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If you regretted your holiday spending, imagine the bill for Capitol Hill's. While Americans were busy celebrating, Congress was cramming billions of dollars into the massive omnibus legislation it passed before the Christmas recess. Now that the parties are over, it looks like a fiscal hangover is about to set in. For starters, taxpayers are beginning to realize that the same liberal leadership who campaigned on "disciplined spending" allowed the inclusion of over 9,000 earmarks--a 424 percent increase from 2007! As Washington Times columnist Donald Lambro pointed out, "If one special interest in the country has been left out of these bills, it would be hard to think of it." Most of the projects--everything from "grape genetics" to a post office museum--were never formally approved by the appropriations committees. Instead, they were quietly inserted with Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) blessing in hopes that the political payoff would help buy her party another term. In bugs (yes, bugs!) alone, the bill contained over $7 million in pest control programs.
Fortunately, President Bush has the power to do something about the real pests on Capitol Hill. With an executive order, he could direct all federal departments and agencies to ignore any of the 9,000 earmarks that were not explicitly appropriated in the text of the bill. If the White House seized on that opportunity, it would eliminate about 90 percent of the political pork that was piled on the committee reports. We urge the president to take a stand for the American taxpayer and force the liberal leadership to adopt a New Year's resolution--watching its "waste" line.
Additional Resources
Lambro: Clueless Congress' Bloated Budget Should Be Busted