A fundamental feature of legislative systems is that you get to propose amendments, even to legislation you oppose. It might be better not to spend money at all. It is still legitimate to amend bills that you oppose in order to improve them. I hereby propose some improvements.
I fear that some Republicans, lacking the spirit of cooperation, may be almost ungrateful. That’s [continued beyond the fold]
so truly sad.
I’m talking about The War On Iraq and the forthcoming “emergency appropriations” bills to pay for it. How big are the next two bills? In round numbers, two hundred billion dollars.
The Budget is already in deficit. There are two ways to pay for Bush’s war.
Choice 1: The Grandchild Tax. We spend the money, and we send our bills to our grandchildren. How? It’s “the National Debt”. That debt almost never gets paid off. It just keeps collecting interest, four or six percent typical. How much? In the next century, the two emergency appropriations will suck up close to a trillion dollars in interest payments. That’s money out of our children’s pockets into the wallets of bondholders.
Increasing the Grandchild Tax is a really bad idea.
Choice 2: The War Emergency Tax. The Democrats who control Congress control which Bills are brought to the floor. Speaker Pelosi and her friends could perfectly well ensure that the War Emergency Appropriation Bill brought to the floor has within it the War Emergency Tax needed to pay for it.
This tax, however levied, would raise the money to pay for the war.
As a practical matter, Speaker Pelosi and friends would do well to make clear to the Republicans:
1) In a spirit of cooperation, we will say we are practicing Republican fiscal conservatism.
2) We are the majority, and we will decide how the tax is levied.
3) It is your President who wants this turkey, and therefore you are providing the votes to pass it. To make things simpler for you, we have this little list, which happens to include all the Republicans in marginal districts, and we are confident we will see a 90% yes vote from them. If you want the appropriation bill to pass, that is.
Mind you, I would vote against the Tax, but I would also vote against the matching Appropriation.
