Can’t Get Enough

“Please help me before I spend again!” Oh, you won’t hear any member utter those words on the House floor this summer during debate over the annual spending bills, but their actions betray their sentiments as well as their desperation. They repeatedly show arrogant disdain for the voters who beg to be heard: “Stop! For the love of Pete, just stop the spending!”

Just last week, House Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) coyly announced he will publish a list of earmarks in the Congressional Record before a House-Senate conference committee will vote on final passage. How noble of you, Mr. Chairman! Month after month and bill after bill pass with thousands of earmarks, and you’re going to publish them all in one handy dandy document … just before it becomes law?! Just how stupid does he take the average voter to be?

The Obey decree is a distant cry from rules the House approved in January that called for earmarks to be disclosed and their sponsors identified before legislation was considered on the House floor. Obey argues the change was necessary because of the backlog of work for Appropriations staffers. Another typical excuse from the left — “The bureaucrats made me do it.” I’m shocked he didn’t try to work in a zinger at Bush and stem cells while he was at it.

Not even a full year has passed and Democrats are already pulling a Gore “no controlling legal authority” line to explain why they can’t keep their hands out of the taxpayer cookie jar.

Even Republicans are succumbing to the savory scents of fat-back hysteria. When fiscal hawk Rep. Scott Garrett (R-N.J.) offered an amendment to strike just $33 million in an education boondoggle for Alaska natives, Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) gnashed his teeth. Characterizing those dollars as “my money,” Young stated, “Those that bite me will be bitten back.” Hello? This is the distinguished gentleman from Alaska to a member of his own party? What’s even more appalling is that Young makes no apologies for wrapping his arms around as many money marbles as he can, suggesting that Garrett was motivated by guilt for not being as effective for his district.

I feel like I’m watching a “Lord of the Flies” clip …