Thursday, May 20, 2010

Where's The Budget?

Republican Minority Leader John Boehner once again raises the question:

"We continue to read about the Democrats' supposed pivot to jobs, but all the American people are getting from Washington is more spending and more debt.  Millions of jobs have been lost since President Obama signed the trillion-dollar 'stimulus,' and unemployment is near 10 percent.  The new health care law is going to kill small business jobs and increase Americans' health care costs.  And this out-of-control spending spree has got to stop.

"Our record national debt is about to hit $13 trillion, and Washington Democrats have no budget in place to deal with it.  They want to continue the out-of-control spending spree that is scaring the hell out of the American people.  And they want to do nothing but spend more at a time when economists say we need to cut spending to create jobs.  This would be the first time the House has failed to pass a budget in the modern era.  That's according to the Congressional Research Service.

"The American people want us to work together to stop the out-of-control spending spree and create jobs.  A responsible budget would be a good place to start.  Where is the Democrats' budget?" 

NOTE: In 2006, then-Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said enacting a budget was "the most basic responsibility of governing."  Rep. John Spratt (D-SC), the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, put it more succinctly that year when he said, "if you can't budget, you can't govern."

Hm, I might amend that last bit to read, "if you can't budget, you can't govern responsibly."  Governing badly is still governing.  Still, you get the point.

As I was reading Boehner's statement, it hit me that failing to put forward a budget is actually the most logical and natural course of action (or lack of action) for these Democrats to take.  After all, between the rampant spending, massive entitlements and bailouts, government expansions and takeovers, and failure to do a single economically responsible thing yet, they're clearly not holding to anything remotely resembling a budget.  They probably didn't bother with a budget because they know it's irrelevant to how they'll legislate and act.  So why waste the time?

Just remember this fact when you look at the country around you, and especially when you walk into the voting booth the next few times.

There's my two cents.

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