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The Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009 is a sprawling, $410 billion compilation of nine spending measures that lacks the slightest hint of austerity from the federal government or the recipients of its largess. The Senate should reject this bill. If we do not, President Barack Obama should veto it.
The economic downturn requires new policies, not more of the same.
Our nation's current fiscal imbalance is unprecedented, unsustainable and, if unaddressed, a major threat to our currency and our economic vitality.
The solution going forward is to stop wasteful spending before it starts. Families and businesses are tightening their belts to make ends meet -- and Washington should too.
The bloated omnibus requires sacrifice from no one, least of all the government. It only exacerbates the problem and hastens the day of reckoning. Voters rightly demanded change in November's election, but this approach to spending represents business as usual in Washington, not the voters' mandate.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Bayh: Just say no
Evan Bayh, a Democratic Senator from Indiana has a straightforward article in today's WSJ arguing that Congress should reject the bloated ominbus spending bill that is up for consideration this week. It's refreshing to see some reasoned, Democratic opposition to the current spending binge.
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6 comments:
It's nice that Bayh has had a change of heart, but where was he two weeks ago when he voted for the bill he now claims is horrible? Either he's laying the groundwork to challenge Reid, or he's laying the groundwork to challenge The One, but in either event he would have served his ambitions better by not flip-flopping on this incredibly important legislation in a mere two weeks.
I agree with you 100%. Bayh hits high notes now and then, but he fails the consistency test. I once heard him speak to a group at Art Laffer's house (I think Bayh's wife was a student of Laffer's many years ago) and was impressed. But he has since disappointed me too often.
This is so phony. This merely means his licked finger is in the air and he senses the anger over spending boiling over. He is no more committed to this stance than a man on the moon.
Looks China has had to compensate for us botching our stimulus by releasing their Stimulus II. The world could be looking forward to pulling itself out of the recession if both China and the US had gotten stimulus right. Sadly we only have the Chinese doing the heavy lifting.
I too once had faith in Bayh, back when I still considered myself a (wavering) Dem. But no more. As you say, Scott, some high notes now and then but mostly he just falls flat. Dems will be out for blood now, so I hope he has a strategy in place that's been well thought out.
Donny is surely right that Bayh's seen the writing on the wall re public sentiment, and is trying to get out in front of that, but the time to have done this was, as I said above, two weeks ago by casting the first courageous Democrat nay vote. Now he's given his adversaries plenty of grist, so we'll see whether the man has thought all this out.
It would be an extremely welcome development for him to stay on the flop side of this flip-flop and become the point man for rallying disaffected Dems -- and tons of indies who voted for Obama thinking he was something he's clearly not -- against this unpredcented, suicidal tax and spend juggernaut.
Perhaps Bayh is being opportunistic, but so what? Great to have him chipping another crack into The Messiah's edifice. There have been several prominent "intellectuals" expressing buyer's remorse in the past few days. Check out Jim Cramer's rant if you haven't seen it yet.
Bayh's up for re-election next year in a barely-blue 2008 state that went overwhelmingly for Bush in 2004. Nothing more to it than that, but it's probably too late. I'd bet Bayh's vote for 'stimulus' has already sealed his fate...
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