I am on a lot of e mail lists from both Democratic and Republican members of the house and senate, Wednesday I received an e mail from Senator Larry Craig, espousing the high ideals of the Stop Over Spending Act of 2006 (SOS) he stated that he and Idaho's other Senator Crapo were endorsing this act.
Is it just me or is it hypocritical that Republicans feel a need to make a law to stop themselves from over spending?
Here is the link to the pdf file from Senator Gregg, Chairman of the Senate Budget committee
http://craig.senate.gov/...
The highlights show that they want to give the President a line item veto, what they need someone to tell them that they are over spending and to tell them NO.
Here is Senator Frists letter regarding it:
Stop Over-Spending with Bold Structural Reform
We have a $9 trillion federal debt in America today, a debt fueled by out of control spending, a debt which places a mortgage on the future of our children.
If Washington is to live within its means - just as every American family must live within its means - bold, innovative and structural reforms are necessary.
That's why I'm proud to co-sponsor Senator Judd Gregg's Stop Over-Spending Act, which presents a comprehensive plan to reduce spending, slash the deficit and eliminate unjustifiable Bridges to Nowhere from future federal budgets.
First, the Stop Over-Spending Act would give President Bush the line item veto. Pork thrives in Washington because it can be tucked away inside massive appropriation bills without any public deliberation or meaningful transparency. But, armed with special, fast-track procedures guaranteeing an up-or-down vote in Congress to specific spending cuts that the President proposes, we can subject pork barrel spending to the bright light of public scrutiny. Governors in 43 states have the line item veto and so should President Bush.
Second, the Stop Over-Spending Act would also put the American government on a two-year budget cycle - a proposal that I've strongly supported ever since I first entered the Senate eleven years ago. The American people deserve careful oversight of their tax dollars. Yet, over 15% of all federal spending, $160 billion, takes place without oversight or even formal permission to be funded. And the Office of Management and Budget reports that over a quarter of all federal programs either don't work or can't show any evidence that they do. Under biennial budgeting, Congress would have more time to cut bad programs, expand good ones, and root out waste.
Third, the Stop Over-Spending Act would reestablish statutory caps for discretionary spending - enforced by automatic, across-the-board spending reductions - as well as mandate a cap on the federal deficit (as a percentage of our GDP) - ultimately enforced by automatic, across-the-board reductions in entitlement spending.
As Majority Leader, it is my goal to see that we enact all or any part of the Stop Over-Spending Act this year - because we can no longer turn a blind eye to excessive spending and a broken budget process.
If you agree with the line item veto, biennial budgeting and caps on discretionary spending and on the federal deficit, then I urge you to sign my digitial petition now by clicking here.
Written by Bill Frist, M.D.
Here is the part I don't get, the Republican Party has controlled the Congress and Senate basically since Newt Gingrich's "pledge with America" by the time President Clinton left office we were on a balanced budget, and there was extra money coming in every year, and into the foresseable future, then 9/11 happened and they have circumvented the laws on balanced budgets by all the off budget War spending bills, let's see 900 million for the new Iraq US Embassy, Katrina relief, etc now that it didn't need to be done but since President Bush took office the Republicans have doubled the national debt from a little over 4 trillion and on their way to over 9 trillion with the FY 2007 budget.
Now they want to pass a bill that will tie the hands of future Presidents after they have put America into the largest open pit (money pit) in the world, we are now just a few short steps behind the Old Soviet Union in the 1990's financially. We owe everyone, yet the Republicans have continued to pass the bridge to nowhere, Trent Lott's 700 million dollar railroad fiasco that luckily got stopped, the Senate voted down the Estate Tax act, but the Republican House approved it yesterday, and they say Democrats can't agree on a message?
The republican party which use to be the party of fiscal discipline now needs "Daddy" to tell them No, why? If they can't do the job they were elected to do, resign and let someone in that can do the job, like a fiscal responsible Democrat.