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A fiscal disaster in the making
Dimitri Vassilaros is a Tribune-Review editorial page editor. He can be reached at dvassilaros@tribweb.com or 412-380-5637. He also blogs at KDKA
And the more this true congressional maverick speaks, the more disgust you should have about the seemingly perennial bipartisan charade inside the Beltway whenever budget "cuts" are debated.
"Only in Washington D.C. can a spending increase be called a spending cut, but that's exactly what happened last week," said Rep. Paul, the Texas Republican who was raised in Pittsburgh's South Hills.
A House reconciliation bill cut more than $56 billion in spending to pay for the Hurricane Katrina devastation. But the first-year "cut" was only $5 billion from a budget that has increased 6.4 percent from the previous year.
The proposed cut in the increase was a fraction of 1 percent. The spending increase is horrendous, yet posturing congressmen "went nuts" about the cuts, Paul said.
The bill merely slows the rate at which some federal spending grows by a tiny percentage, and both parties acted as though a revolution had taken place, he said.
"I refused to vote for this thing," Paul said about the fuzzy math calculated to fool those outside the Beltway. That might include Big Government's useful idiots in Big Media who report on the so-called cuts as if they are, well, cuts.
Republicans tried to spin it as a huge victory for fiscal conservatism while Democrats acted enraged by the supposed slashing of government programs, Paul said.
Of course they were not truly slashed. Both were trying to make political points, Paul said. "Republicans won't cut foreign aid and military spending, but when they support so-called 'cuts' for poor people they set themselves up for attack by Democrats," he said.
The uproar shows just how entrenched the spending culture has become on Capitol Hill. "Even insignificant reductions in the rate of growth in federal spending are seen as earth-shattering," Paul said. "But if we're really serious about cutting federal spending, why not simply cut 10 percent from the 2006 budget?
"Remember, these same Republicans claiming victory for slowing spending next year also passed the Medicare prescription drug bill which will add over $50 billion to the federal budget in 2006 alone."
In just one year the Medicare bill adds 10 times in new spending to what the budget bill purportedly cuts that year.
"So nobody who voted for the Medicare drug bill has any business talking about government spending," Paul said.
"Neither do those who refuse to consider cutting one penny from the military and foreign aid budgets. You cannot conduct a foreign policy based on remaking whole nations using military force and pretend to operate a frugal government.
"The Democrats, by contrast, never want to cut spending on anything, no matter how much the federal budget grows. And it's doubled in 15 years," Paul said.
Is there any hope?
"On the short run we will have to go through pain and suffering.
"But even the Soviet system ended gracefully compared to what it could have been," Paul said about the former Evil Empire. "If you look at Washington, D.C., day to day you could get very discouraged.
"But looking outside of Washington, I can find signs of encouragement. If I were not coming home to Texas on weekends, I would not be feeling very good about it."
