9.14.2005

Speaks for itself

More foolishness from Mr. DeLay:

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said yesterday that Republicans have done so well in cutting spending that he declared an "ongoing victory," and said there is simply no fat left to cut in the federal budget.
Mr. DeLay was defending Republicans' choice to borrow money and add to this year's expected $331 billion deficit to pay for Hurricane Katrina relief. Some Republicans have said Congress should make cuts in other areas, but Mr. DeLay said that doesn't seem possible.
"My answer to those that want to offset the spending is sure, bring me the offsets, I'll be glad to do it. But nobody has been able to come up with any yet," the Texas Republican told reporters at his weekly briefing.
Asked if that meant the government was running at peak efficiency, Mr. DeLay said, "Yes, after 11 years of Republican majority we've pared it down pretty good."
Then there's this from his collegues:
"This is hardly a well-oiled machine," said Rep. Jeff Flake, Arizona Republican. "There's a lot of fat to trim. ... I wonder if we've been serving in the same Congress."
American Conservative Union Chairman David A. Keene said federal spending already was "spiraling out of control" before Katrina, and conservatives are "increasingly losing faith in the president and the Republican leadership in Congress."
"Excluding military and homeland security, American taxpayers have witnessed the largest spending increase under any preceding president and Congress since the Great Depression," he said.
Mr. Keene said annual nonmilitary and non-homeland security spending increased $303 billion between fiscal year 2001 and 2005; the acknowledged federal debt increased more than $2 trillion since fiscal year 2000; and the 2003 Medicare prescription drug bill is estimated to increase the government's unfunded obligations by $16 trillion.
I'm not putting this up there as a means to say, "Oh, look this is Republican, look how dumb and corrupt he is, that is a good example of how dumb and corrupt all Republicans are." I'm pointing at him because he, as an individual, is a contemptable liar who needs to be made fun of and put in his place (which should be as far away from the halls of congress and power as possible). Dean and Feinstein may be contemptable, but they're not quite as outragous (to me at least) as this piece of shit.

1 comment:

Joe said...

We're talking about the federal budget in my public finance and budgeting class. Here's a good run down of the budget.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2006/tables.html


There are a lot of academics in the public administration field who would agree with Delay. (Even from my very brief forey into this field, this is pretty obvious). Americans want great public services, but they also want smaller government. Trimming fat is great, but eventually, you start cutting out muscle.
It's interesting that more than half of the over 2 trillion dollar budget is non-discretionary. It's used for payment on the debt and for entitlement programs (mainly social security). Of the discretionary spending, more than half goes to defense or homeland security. So, discretionary spending for this other stuff from whence the fat will be trimmed is about 1/6 of the total budget. I don't if I really have a point..just think those are interesting facts. Out of the 2.5 trillion dollar budget, 391 billion is non-defense/homeland security and discretionary.