Lets Look At Facts

[MM38084]

Next time someone talks about the budget crisis in Washington, or the deficit crisis, or the revenue crisis, tune them out.

The only real crisis is a leadership crisis.

From the president on down, there's a total absence of fiscal discipline.

The result of the rudderless federal ship is a record $786 billion spending bill moving through Congress that contains more than 9,000 special appropriations -- pork barrel projects -- for the states and districts represented by influential congressmen, at a cost of almost $23 billion. That compares with 2,000 such projects five years ago, according to Citizens Against Government Waste, and it helps explain why the federal budget is posting runaway deficits.

Given the extraordinary strain placed on taxpayers by homeland security needs and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, President George W. Bush would be perfectly justified in vetoing this pork package. But he won't. Bush has not issued a single veto in his first three years in office.

That's a big reason why federal spending has grown faster in Bush's term than in any other three-year period during the past 25 years. Federal spending totals $20,000 per household, up from $16,000 per household five years ago, and is at its highest inflation-adjusted level since World War II, according to the Heritage Foundation, a Washington think tank.

The administration defends the spending growth as a necessary byproduct of the terrorism war. But that doesn't explain these gifts sprinkled throughout the proposed spending bill:

* $225,000 for a Kentucky Civil War theme park.

* $200,000 for Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

* $325,000 for a swimming pool in Salinas, Calf.

* $80,000 for a bike trail in Arkansas.

* $450,000 for trout genome mapping.

* $2 million for the First Tee youth golf program.

The list is endless. And while Congress is buying frills with taxpayer dollars, local school districts are laying off teachers and state governments are cutting people off Medicaid.

Many of the congressional projects are defensible on their merits. What's not defensible is funding them with special federal grants.

That creates an inequity from community to community, state to state. If the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is worthy of a federal grant, why not the Motown Museum? If Arkansas merits a taxpayer-funded bike trail, why not Michigan? If the kids in Salinas should get a swimming pool paid for by all American taxpayers, why not the kids in Detroit?

The more fair system -- in years when the national treasury can afford it -- would be to make proportional grants directly to states, and allow governors and lawmakers to decide which projects are worthy of support. But that would keep members of Congress from buying votes with the direct grants.

The American people have been told they are in a perilous period, and the need for sacrifice is great. Taxpayers have been asked to pay for a broad range of measures to make the nation more secure. They've also been handed a bill of $87 billion to rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan.

Is it too much to ask of Congress and the president to behave in a manner that reflects the gravity of the times? Could they not drop the greedy, get-mine-first attitude and instead act for once in the national interest?

Squandering $23 billion on pork is appalling. It's an affront to taxpayers who are struggling to balance household budgets in a still shaky economy. And it's a reflection of the weak character of the individuals who occupy the country's highest offices.