If You Can’t Stand the Heat

It looks like the Republicans in Congress are starting to feel the heat about their out-of-control spending habits.<br />n<br />n<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/04/AR2005110401840.html">Some in GOP Regretting Pork-Stuffed Highway Bill</a><br />n<br />n<blockquote>In a speech to a group of conservative academics and policy experts, DeLay blamed the runaway spending of recent years on minority Democrats. When he took questions, the first came from a senior official at the American Conservative Union, who asked DeLay, "How large does the Republican majority in the House and Senate need to be before Republicans act like the fiscal conservative I thought we were?"</blockquote><br />n<br />nOhh, blame the Democrats and then get it thrown right back in your face. Some of the faithful are getting a little upset.<br />n<br />n<blockquote>"I'm not here to defend the highway bill," DeLay responded. He described the overall 1,000-page legislation, which funds major interstate, bridge and mass transit projects and distributes gasoline tax revenue to states according to a formula, as an important economic development tool. He conceded that Congress may have gone a bit overboard.</blockquote><br />n<br />n"A bit overbaord" the man says, how about a whole lot overboard, and since when is the Highway bill an "economic development tool?" Isn't the Highway Bill about infrastructure and not economic development?<br />n<br />n<blockquote>"Our responsibility, that frankly we didn't perform very well, is to make sure those are legitimate earmarks for legitimate reasons," DeLay said, referring to the pet projects.</blockquote><br />n<br />nCongress "didn't perform very well." Yea, I would agree with that but what else is new, they very rarely perform very well.<br />n<br />n<blockquote>The Club for Growth, a conservative group that funds like-minded candidates for Congress, has turned the highway legislation into a bumper sticker for the GOP's fiscal failings. "Too many Congressional Republicans have veered away from the limited government agenda that got them elected to the majority in Congress. They have approved pork-barrel highway bills worse than the Democrats used to give us," says one appeal to supporters.</blockquote><br />n<br />nQuite the turnaround when Democrats are seen as the fiscal conservatives and Republicans are the spend thrifts. Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together – mass hysteria, what's next, Democrats turn pro-life and Republicans turn pro-choice?<br />n<br />n<br />n<b>As you make your bed, so you must lie in it. Daniel J. Boorstin</b>