Whatever it is Tom DeLay is taking, I want some of it as soon as possible.

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said yesterday that Republicans have done so well in cutting spending that he declared an “ongoing victory,” and said there is simply no fat left to cut in the federal budget.

Mr. DeLay was defending Republicans’ choice to borrow money and add to this year’s expected $331 billion deficit to pay for Hurricane Katrina relief. Some Republicans have said Congress should make cuts in other areas, but Mr. DeLay said that doesn’t seem possible.

“My answer to those that want to offset the spending is sure, bring me the offsets, I’ll be glad to do it. But nobody has been able to come up with any yet,” the Texas Republican told reporters at his weekly briefing.

Asked if that meant the government was running at peak efficiency, Mr. DeLay said, “Yes, after 11 years of Republican majority we’ve pared it down pretty good.”

This is just utter nonsense. The pork-barrel spending that happens in Washington every year around budget time is legendary, and there has been no sign that is has even slowed down this year, let alone stopped. The American Taxpayer has been paying for museums, bridges, memorials, buildings, parks and other pork for decades, thanks to last minute additions to completely unrelated vital legislation. Senators and Representatives have made it a point of pride to tell their constituents back home how much of the federal pie they wrangled from the federal budget.

Its a good thing for us that some people have a clue:

Tom Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW), said 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 Heritage Foundation also suggest rescinding the 6,000-plus earmarked projects in the recently passed highway bill.

But Mr. DeLay said those projects are “important infrastructure” and eliminating them could undermine the economy as Congress tries to offer hurricane relief.

“It is right to borrow to pay for it,” he said. “But it is not right to attack the very economy that will pay for it.”

Mr. Schatz, though, said the highway bill included projects such as flowers for the Ronald Reagan freeway in California, which he said aren’t essential spending.

I am one of the biggest Ronald Reagan fans that exist. I happen to believe that he will go down in history as one of the two or three best presidents of all time when all is said and done. However, I do not believe that flowers on the Ronald Reagan freeway in California constitutes “important infrastructure.” Furthermore, I do not believe that eliminating such projects from the federal budget would undermine the economy. Instead, if important enough, such projects will be funded through other means and the economy, not caring where the funds came from, will continue just fine.

This is the kind of attitude towards spending that infuriated me with the Democrats, and it galls me to see it in a Republican. Conservatives, in general, want federal spending reduced as much as possible so that taxpayers can keep as much of their own money as possible, thereby growing the economy. Instead, we have dolts like DeLay in Congress who can’t seem to spend tax money fast enough.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but come election time I’m going to remember all of this and base my votes accordingly.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 14th, 2005 at 12:44 pm by Nick, and is filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.