Watts: “Bad Dog Food From the Dems”

According to the latest Rasmussen poll, 83% of Americans blame the deficit on politicians’ unwillingness to cut spending. Former Congressman Watts has penned an  editorial today comparing the Democrats spending and programs to “bad dog food.”

“Washington, Please Quit Digging.

Americans don’t like what they’ve seen over the last eight months. President Obama signed an omnibus spending bill last December, costing $447 billion. It expanded federal spending by 12 percent while inflation grew by 1.8 percent.

According to Taxpayers for Common Sense, there were 5,224 pork barrel projects that cost $3.9 bllion, including one called “The Shrimp Industry Fishing Effort Research Continuation,” costing us all $700,000. This irresponsible spending makes us all a bit cynical.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two institutions that were central to the economic meltdown, were virtually given a blank check by the US Treasury last Christmas Eve. Estimated cost over the next three years — $400 billion.

By the 2006 elections, Republicans in Congress and the Bush White House had dug a ditch so deep they couldn’t get out of it, and surprisingly in some ways, they kept on digging. This seems to be where the Democrats are today. Read more…

Related:

WSJ: Deficit Hawk Turns Dove at Home

Sen. Coburn’s comments on Sen. Kent Conrad, Democratic chairman of the Senate Budget Committee:

Conrad says one thing, and then votes hundreds of times the other way—to spend money,” says Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, one of the Senate’s strictest spending hawks and among only six senators who sought no funding for home-state projects through the “earmark” process last year.