Over a Pork Barrel

This morning, President Bush announced that he will submit a five-year budget proposal that will balance the federal budget by 2012. The Congressional Budget Office projects the deficit for the current budget year will come close to $286 billion, while they see it reaching $1.76 trillion within the next ten years. Something must be done in order to get these numbers under control. Since a part of the President's campaign proposal in 2004 was to cut the country's budget deficit, there's never been a more convenient time to start working on cutting government spending than when the Democrats are taking control of the Legislature.

Now that Bush is forced to work alongside an opposition Congress, he is asking them to file bills that will "set aside politics and focus on the future." Bush wrote in an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal that "...[i]f the Congress chooses to pass bills that are simply political statements, they will have chosen stalemate," while what he really meant was...'let's do things my way.'

It's funny that Bush would urge the new Congress to steer away from pork barrel spending for the benefit of our country's future. Let's look at the numbers and see who truly had this country's future in mind. The last time that Congress was controlled by the Democrats was in 1994. In 1994 the number of earmarks in spending or "earmarked projects," which usually includes funds for roads, bridges, and other economic developments, was 4,126. While in 2005, with Congress being controlled by the President's party, the number of earmarks in spending was 15,877. The amount of tax money spent on these earmarks just about doubled to $47.4 billion. These numbers, along will all of the President's spending in Iraq, is where our country's deficit has come from, and now he has the audacity to ask the new Congress to "remember their obligations to the country" and to watch spending.

My mother taught me when I was in elementary school that when you point your finger at someone, you have three more pointing right back at you. Bush is pointing his finger in warning at the democrats, and the turn-around is simple. First, it is clear that he has allowed Republicans to "bring home the bacon" for quite some time. Second, even with his expressed concern, Bush still presses his plans to send more troops to Iraq. And third, Bush continues to cheer on increased military spending. Mr. President, it looks as though it is your own agenda that should be re-examined, not those who haven't a foot in the door yet.