The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Editorials

March 25, 2006

Our View—America hurt by budget failings

The cost of a new home could rise, every mutual fund in America might be fraught with more downside risk, and the country’s ability to borrow for crucial needs might be subject to the whims of people who don’t live here.

These scenarios are quickly becoming realities as Congress continues its reckless spending habits and handles taxpayer money in a way that makes Enron look like a conservative small-town banker.

Congress agreed to borrow $781 billion more last week, increase spending by $100 billion, and pretty much ignore a deficit that is already projected to be $400 to $500 billion.

It didn’t have to be this way.

Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., 14 other Democrats and three Senate Republicans proposed re-instituting the pay-as-you-go budget rule that requires Congress to cut somewhere else when they approve new spending. The rule was in place from 1990 to 2001, a time of budget surpluses.

When Conrad and his bipartisan group asked the rest of the Senate to support this common sense budget rule, they rejected it. At 3:07 p.m. on March 14, the Senate rejected the pay as you go budget rule on a 50-50 tie vote.

Sen. Norm Coleman voted against the measure. Sen. Mark Dayton voted in favor.

We’re sure Sen. Coleman has an explanation for his vote, we’re not sure it will be a good one. In this case, he had the power to change national policy, policy that would bring common sense back to this spending melee that has occurred in recent years.

He chose not to.

As a result, the debt limit had to be raised so the treasury would not have to borrow from government worker pension funds.

The debt limit has increased by $3 trillion since President George W. Bush took office. This kind of reckless disregard for the nation’s checkbook isn’t supposed to happen when Congress and the White House are controlled by the more fiscally conservative party.

Pundits say Americans just don’t care and can’t see the harm in the disastrous fiscal policies. But the harm is all around us. We’re paying more taxes than we should because we have more debt. The interest rates on our homes, SUVs and student loans are higher than they should be.

They’ll be higher yet if China, or some other large holder of U.S. debt, decides to go shopping for a better deal.

It’s difficult to understand the Republican Party at this juncture. Maybe they need to realize they can’t have it both ways. We can’t have more spending, no matter if it’s on war or hurricanes, if we don’t cut somewhere else, or increase revenues by letting tax cuts for the wealthy expire.

Some courageous Republicans have stepped forward for fiscal restraint. Both senators from Maine, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, voted for pay as you go. As did Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, John McCain of Arizona, and George Voinovich of Ohio.

Let’s hope they can convince their colleagues in the Republican Party to reinstate the party’s hallmark of fiscal responsibility.

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