Remember that WSJ editorial Tuesday that pounded the GOP-run Congress, stating, “You know spending discipline has collapsed on Capitol Hill when one of the lone voices for fiscal restraint is House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi”?
“With a lifetime Citizens Against Government Waste rating of “Hostile to the Taxpayer,” Ms. Pelosi hardly qualifies as a fiscal conservative. But at least she understands what the out-of-touch Beltway Republicans don’t: The latest polling shows that voter support for the GOP is slipping, especially among normally loyal Republicans, and their spending spree is one big reason. This is an important moment for Republican governance that threatens their control of Congress. (Emphasis mine.)
Now, CAGW has named as its “Co-Porkers of the Month” none other than … oh yes …
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) and Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Don Young (R-Alaska) … for their response to requests to cut spending to offset the costs of Hurricane Katrina.
Rep. DeLay has said that cutting the 6,000 special-interest earmarks – for items like landscaping along the Ronald Reagan Freeway and a visitor center in Gray, Tennessee – in the recently passed $295 billion Highway Bill would adversely affect “important infrastructure.” … MORE BELOW:
He went on to posit that the Republican-led Congress has “pared [the government] down pretty good,” though it has in fact presided over the largest increase in federal spending since the Great Society
When asked about redirecting the $450 million for the Gravina Island and Knik Arm bridges (renamed “Don Young’s Way”) to hurricane victims, Rep. Young said: “They can kiss my ear.” He then called the request the “dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.” Instead of kissing Don Young’s ear, taxpayers should shout loud and clear that they want him and his colleagues to give up their pork and cut the fat.
For adding all Hurricane Katrina relief to the deficit without agreeing to offsetting spending cuts and exaggerating the fiscal competence of the Republican Congress, CAGW names Reps. Tom DeLay and Don Young Co-Porkers of the Month for September 2005.
Now, we don’t share many values with CAGW. But this is still sweet.
