Last week, the Republican-led Senate stiff-armed President Bush’s call for belt-tightening when it adopted a $2.8 trillion fiscal 2007 budget resolution -- an entitlement-filled package that is more than $16 billion higher than the president’s request. The Senate snubbed even modest attempts to slow mandatory spending programs, which Bush had targeted for $65 billion in net savings over five years. Almost all of the proposed amendments sought to increase spending.
Republican budget architects are using gimmicks that violate all principles. Take, for instance, Arlen Specter’s “advanced appropriations,” in which the Pennsylvanian got an extra $7 billion for education and other programs. The senator’s blatant disregard for any sort of budget discipline was summed up with his smug remark, “It’s not ‘sort of’ a gimmick; it is a gimmick.”
To make matters worse, when fiscally-focused Republican senators like John Cornyn attempt to tighten Congress’s belt, they’re rebuffed. Cornyn proposed $10 billion in Medicare and Medicaid savings over five years. His amendment failed 43 to 57. The disheartened Texas senator was later quoted as saying, “No one is at the wheel, and I’m afraid the plane will crash all too soon.” Jim DeMint’s amendment to stop the budget raid on Social Security surpluses also lost. Over in the House, the Mike Pence conservatives were even denied a vote for budget-cutting offsets to high-spending Katrina assistance.
GOP budget obesity is a huge problem. And it’s not just a tax threat. Politically, a big-spending GOP will demoralize its increasingly frustrated small-government conservative base. These are the folks who can carry the election in November. Without them the GOP Congress will be sunk.
Do voters and taxpayers really want Harlem Democrat Charlie Rangel as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee? Let’s take a peak into the future: In the House, Rangel will ignite tax-hike legislation. Next door in the Senate, Democrat Ted Kennedy will look to raise the minimum wage. Trial lawyers will rule the roost in their battle to undermine business. Wacko left-wing attempts to censure or impeach President Bush will move to center stage. Cut-and-run will become our new defense policy.
There is a way out. End budget obesity. Republicans must understand that the old pork-barrel politics of buying elections doesn’t work anymore. This is a center-right country that sees smaller government and lower taxes as the key to prosperity and economic freedom. The GOP must get back to this first principle. The Kyl’s, Cornyn’s, DeMint’s, and Pence’s have the story right, while the liberal Specter’s of the party are completely wrong. Which GOP is going to triumph?