House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a Texas Republican, recently announced that there is no place to trim the federal government’s budget, which will exceed $2.25 trillion before the fiscal year is over.
And this is from someone considered to be a fiscal conservative and friend of the taxpayer.
DeLay’s comments were in response to some of his fellow Republicans’ suggestions that the disaster relief funding for Katrina be offset by spending cuts elsewhere. He’d be glad to cut some spending if someone presented him with offsets, he said, but "nobody has been able to come up with any yet."
Well, his comments have simply fanned the flames of a whole group of Republicans who are disappointed—nay, embarrassed—at the explosion in government spending since President Bush has been in office.
Forget the "tax and spend" Democrats. Lots of conservatives fear that this administration will be dubbed the "tax cut and spend" Republicans.
Well, the Republican Study Committee, a group of 110 Republicans in the House, came up with a 23-page list of spending reductions totaling $102 billion. We may not want to make all of those changes, but they do provide a starting point for discussions.
Also trying to be helpful is Citizens Against Government Waste, a Washington watchdog group that likes to shine a light on spending projects that Congress wants to keep in the dark. CAGW has identified 600 places where the government can cut a total of $232 billion in the next fiscal year, and $2 trillion over the next five.
To add insult to injury, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has offered to give back some of the money Congress has made available for projects in her state of California—but only if Republicans will reciprocate. Speaker of the House Denny Hastert (R-IL) said thanks but no thanks, making the Democrats look like the fiscal conservatives.
So everyone, including Democrats, can find places to cut spending exceptTom DeLay!
The real problem is there are so many places to cut, it’s hard to know where to begin.