Budget talks: This is getting nasty

Laugh all you want, but it's not a minor development.

Now, maybe someone on the left will declare that cuts in the projected growth of programs won't count as cuts.

 

So hard to tell these days what's government waste and what's good spending. Especially if you're a Tea Party congressman who pledged to stop government waste but wants your pork, dammit!

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/20/us/politics/20freshmen.html?_r=1

WASHINGTON — Freshman House Republicans who rode a wave of voter discontent into office last year vowed to stop out-of-control spending, but that has not stopped several of them from quietly trying to funnel millions of federal dollars into projects back home.

They have pushed for dozens of projects in their districts, including military programs opposed by the president, replenishing beach sand lost to erosion, a $700 million bridge in Minnesota and a harbor dredging project in Charleston, S.C. Some of their projects were once earmarks, political shorthand for pet projects penciled into spending bills, which Republicans banned when they took over the House.

... Article includes Bachmann pork (the bridge in Minnesota), and special bonus sports tie-in:

Early this year, the Republican Study Committee, a conservative House caucus, opposed a program that replaces sand on the nation’s beaches as one of several wasteful programs, estimating that scrapping the program would save the government about $95 million.

”Beach erosion is a natural process, and spending in this area may not be effective,” the group said. “In addition, this spending is more properly the responsibility of states, localities and private landowners.”

But when the measure to kill the program came up for a vote last February, Representative Jon Runyan, a former professional football player and freshman Republican from New Jersey, opposed it, and it was overwhelmingly defeated. In his news release, Mr. Runyan, who had run a campaign on ending the “fiscal insanity” in Washington, boasted of his efforts in getting continued money for replenishing the sand on the beaches in his district.



Maybe this is all considered like turkey bacon or something, not real pork.

 

The debt was not erased. But when Clinton left office, it was well on its way to being erased.

Then Bush II undid that progress with tax cuts we couldn't afford and two wars - one which was necessary, the other of which was based on bad information, if not outright lies, and at the very least could have waited a few years until we finished the first war.

 

Tea Party ignorance and hypocrisy at its finest.

Thankfully, their 15 minutes are about up, now that folks are figuring out that they don't have a clue how to legislate or govern.

 

I'd dispute the "well on the way" qualifier. The national debt on July 21, 2000 was more than $5.7 trillion. A yearly surplus of $80 billion was a step in the right direction, but a drop in the bucket of the big picture.

Point taken on Bush II. I'm a long way from becoming an Obama fan, but I'm increasingly ashamed as time goes by that I voted for W twice.

 

STOP DA SPENDIN! (except for my district!)
GET THE BUMS OUT! (except for my rep!)

etc., etc.

 

In the 2000 election, the major platform difference was what to do with the surplus: a tax cut (Bush) or paying down the debt and shoring up Social Security (Gore).

 

The fact that both parties have hijacked the summer with this trumped up issue is BS. We are all stooges for following along.

In the short term 99.9 % of the country has little control of the outcome.

This is when I envy people who can go away and spend a month without TV, computers or newspapers.

This would be the perfect time.

 

Yeah, it's always fun to come back and say, "So, what did I miss?"

 

Oops. Not so fast:

@jaketapper -- Jake Tapper

on MSNBC just now, @GroverNorquist suggested he had been misquoted by WaPo, said allowing Bush tax cuts to expire = tax increase

Norquist said the WP didnt include the full comments, that whatever the technicality, one couldnt tell the Am ppl that it wasnt a tax hike

 

http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2011/jul/14/edmund-burke-vs-grover-norquist/