A Majority Squandered

National Review Online: Democrats Are Turning Opportunity Into A Tax-And-Spend Spree

(National Review Online)  This column was written by former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas.

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After the 2006 elections, Democrats exalted in their new majority, showering their base with airy promises about what they would do with their newfound legislative power. They had been out of the driver's seat for 12 years and were clearly itching to throw the congressional machine into gear. But running Congress is a privilege, one that Democrats have wasted no time in abusing. The coming months will hold many tough legislative battles, and if they persist with their recent behavior, they may find that even their own agenda is threatened.

Speaker Pelosi and her leadership team wasted no time in thumbing their noses at House rules and traditions. At the beginning of the summer, they attempted to ram through a tax increase by changing a procedural rule that allowed the minority to speak out against bad policy. This rule had been in place since 1822 — almost 40 years before the first income tax even existed. It was a Back to the Future approach to legislating, trying to change the past in order to influence the present.

What works in the movies, however, doesn't fly on the floor in Congress. Thanks to Republican protests and some smart maneuvering by Minority Leader John Boehner, the majority's attempt at procedural time travel was stymied. But the incident showed the low tactics to which the Democrats were willing to resort in order to have their way on the floor of Congress.

The tactics were out in force once again last week. On August 2, Michael McNulty, D-N.Y. gaveled a vote closed before the official tally had been read, thus manipulating a tight vote so that it finished in their favor. The remaining days of the session saw a string of unbecoming conduct from the majority, including votes unfairly blocked and floor records carefully cleaned to suit Democratic agendas and hide their misbehavior.

This pattern of behavior sets an ominous precedent for what we can expect from Congress when it reconvenes following the August recess. The first legislative battles will be over health care and budget issues as Democrats attempt to fund their pet projects and fuel governmental growth. Liberal activists are growing restless, and many feel betrayed that the Democrats did not immediately defund the war. The Democrats will be eager to curry favor with their base by proving their progressive bona fides with a host of government-expanding measures.

This sets the stage for a conflict of priorities between Democrats wanting to bolster entitlement programs with new spending, and Republicans anxious to rebuild their fiscal conservative brand before the 2008 election. Republicans will need to continue their opposition to government-sponsored health care. The majority sees changes to the nation’s health care system as opportunities to take control of nearly one-fifth of the national economy, while Republicans seek ways to give families and individuals greater control over their health-care options.

Of course, liberals claim that their only intent is to "help people," but this merely proves one of my axioms: "The politics of greed comes wrapped in the language of love." Look at SCHIP, the health care bill recently passed by Democrats in both the House and the Senate. Liberal health care advocates constantly sound alarms about the nation's uninsured, but for 1.7 million people, this bill would merely swap out existing private insurance with government health insurance, creating a massive health care handout and shunting the cost of that care onto the taxpayer.

The good news is that President Bush has indicated he might veto the bill. Advocates for socialized health care use proposals like this to slowly, stealthily increase the federal government's role in health care. While the party's presidential candidates demagogue the issue and propose more sweeping action, congressional Democrats take the opportunity to pass smaller measures that, over time, still add tremendous bulk to the nation's already sizable government health care infrastructure. Republicans in Congress should support Bush in his veto threat, for he'll need all the backing he can get.

The most significant upcoming clashes, however, will come over the budget. Congress and the White House must agree on a spending plan before October 1 or risk a government shutdown. The House has already finalized its 12 appropriations bills — those responsible for so-called "discretionary spending" — but the Senate has passed only one, leaving little time to meet the deadline. What's more, the proposals in the House include hefty handouts to party loyalists and billions in excessive spending. The Labor/HHS/Education bill alone would spend more than $11 billion more than what President Bush requested and $7 billion more than what was spent in the previous fiscal year.

President Bush has threatened to veto eight of the appropriations bills, a natural response to such flagrant displays of fiscal irresponsibility. But if a compromise can't be reached by the start of October, lawmakers could find themselves once again staring facing the possibility of a government shutdown. In many ways, it looks a lot like 1995, when disagreements between Republicans in Congress and the Clinton White House led to a partial shutdown. In that case, the Republicans pursued their budget priorities, and we took the heat from the press when budget talks stalled. Fiscal conservatives today should learn from this experience and apply a lighter touch to negotiations while still pursuing sound budgetary policy.

Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., has proposed a sound strategy of passing continuing resolutions (CRs) that require spending to be held down to the previous year's levels. Rather than forcing a conflict, these resolutions offer the opportunity to continue government operations while holding down spending. And, by holding up the rest of their legislative agenda, they may help push Democrats to agree to more reasonable, restrained spending.

And where will that lead us? Later in the year, energy and agriculture will once again become key issues. At the end of the recent session, House Democrats pushed through a $16 billion energy tax, showing once again that their talk of lowering gas prices is empty rhetoric. A $45 billion farm bill also made its way through the House. If Democrats continue with their present agenda of expanding government, they will show voters what a tax and spend liberal is all about. Meanwhile, Republican can use this opportunity to press for the spending cuts and program reforms our country desperately needs, and, in the process, remind voters what governing philosophy serves the best interests of the nation’s taxpayers.

[ioweign]

Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., has proposed a sound strategy of passing continuing resolutions (CRs) that require spending to be held down to the previous year's levels. Rather than forcing a conflict, these resolutions offer the opportunity to continue government operations while holding down spending. And, by holding up the rest of their legislative agenda, they may help push Democrats to agree to more reasonable, restrained spending.


Whoa Dickie, you are no longer in POWER. Just sit back and enjoy being in the minority for a CHANGE!!!

[r9119111]

All Republicans should hang their heads in shame. They had plenty of time to demonstrate what a wonderful party they could be for
America and they failed at every turn. Now the Republicans block every attempt to set things right. Clearly, the party has demonstrated it is unqualified to pass judgement on anyone else. They have been nothing but incompetent and meddling fools. They are unfit to lead our country.

[gretagreen]

No real majority in the Senate b/c need 60 votes. House has done a lot. Bush's veto stops whatever the Dems try to do.

National Republic tries to mislead people, but not many dummies left who trust their articles.

[rafterman1]

As opposed to Repub's don't tax and spend, putting us into a devasting debt?

[wogerwabbit]

NRO is irrelevant propaganda that nobody with an IQ over 30 believes any more.

[mimi611]

You're right. They should have impeached Bush and Cheney. But again, you right wing nut birds stop everything but the downhill slides.

Hope you're really proud of what you have done to our country and...the world.

Bless you

[walt1944-2009]

According to the article, the evil, left-wing liberals having been pulling every trick they can to "victimize" the poor, mistreated right-wing neocon Republicans. Of course, nothing has been said about the tactics those very same poor, mistreated neocons used over the past 12 years to tear apart the constitution and create George W. Bush into Dictator King George Bush II.

Thanks to neocon policy our country has become hated and victimized throughout the world, our economic base is on the verge of bankruptcy, the middle class is disappearing, we are in debt to our enemies, we are "squandering" American lives in an illegal war in Iraq, our Constitution has been treated like toilet paper, and the country is on the edge of becoming a dictatorship.

The neocons haven't been squandering their time over the past 12 years created a "new world order" in this country, just like Hitler tried to create the 1,000 year Reich in Germany.

And how long did Hitler's Reich last??? And at what cost???

SIG HEIL, BUSH!!!

[twylacrat]

The democrats have vastly underestimated the level of discontent in the country today. We voted for them because we are desperately unhappy with the repubs. But so far, I haven't seen them deliver either. Who the h*e*l*l is going to represent the AMERICAN people? Our goverment is too stinking busy representing the Iraquiis, the Mexicans, Halliburton, Scooter, Gonzo, Chinese imports, etc. etc. etc.

[sjc_1]

"...wasted no time in abusing..."

Dick Armey should know about abusing power. For 12 years the Gingrich Goosesteppers were twisting arms and changing rules in every session to get more and more power. The concept of fairness was for suckers, they steamrolled their opponents. It did not matter that those opponents represented half of the country, they were in charge and you would dance to their tune.

[elz523]

Hmmm Armey, was this worse than the Republicans gutting the ethics committee or holding a house vote open for hours while arm twisting representatives to change their mind on the pharma bill?

The Democrats were wrong for doing what they did as well, but spare us your sanctimony.

[pepperp1]

Absolute lies Bush increased spending by 50 percent in his first year and increased the deficit by 600 percent; remember the deficit dose not matter Administration and co dependent drunken spenders in Congress when China jerks your chain again and threatens an economic Chinese nuclear option aimed at America. And the genius and his mental midget assistance increased the debt funded by foreign capital by 50 percent and actually accomplished that in two years. The Repugs have been the party of Tax and Steal pillaging the treasury through run away spending, tax cuts for their buddies and rebates to their corporations buying their bridges to know where in their own back yards and slipping in personal earmarks after voting on bills were over they can not stop themselves. What a conservative *** wipe, what the Democrats need to do is clean up the corruption institutionalized by De Lay and drop to zero discretionary giveaway spending, fix the infrastructure and move the Bush war debt to a trust and sell war bonds so all these supposed go ho chicken hawks can a least contribute by buying the bonds while they fiddle.

[jn122736]

%u201CIf Democrats continue with their present agenda of expanding government, they will show voters what a tax-and-spend liberal is all about.%u201D
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It is amazing how quickly republicans fall back on their old fallacious charge of %u201CTax and spend democrats%u201D.

The republicans have cut taxes mainly for the already wealthy, destroyed the only safety net available to the working class (the bankruptcy law), given special treatment to big business and all the while borrowing trillions of dollars to finance it.

The Irony is that the interest on the borrowed money, in effect, is actually a huge tax increase ($406 BILLION, for FY 2006.)

Everybody seems to be ok with the national debt, perhaps because they really think it doesn%u2019t affect them and that they are just leaving it to future generations to pay.

We can put off paying back the borrowed money but the interest must be paid EVERY year. That $406 billion interest payment was paid in 2006.

If interest rates increase, as they are almost certain to do, we will soon be paying $Trillions in interest per year instead of $Billions, Followed by Absolute, total bankruptcy.

[fergie303]

Sad:
i'm an independent (voted for Regan, Bush the first time, Clinton both times). I don't understand a guy like this who retires and then is so full of bullcrap that he knows is not true. These folks aren't conservatives. What I don't understand is how someone can retire from public office then try to deceive the American people about what the congress has done. Prescription drug benefit: A laugh! A donut hole that screws the less well-off. Farm bill, a laugh for corportations. The republicans suck! However, so do the democrats in leaving their pet projects in the budget. Are all these people braindead, or do they think that we are braindead believing them? Do any of you folks really care about our way of life? I doubt it.

[idlepugilist]

Can't even make it past the first paragraph. Democrats are least multi-taskers if they can tax-and-spend, because Republicans only know how to Spend-and-Spend. It's a shame they deflect truth at every single turn by regurgitating the same old tired deceptions.

[meboard]

The Republican'ts sure have more than their fair share of "dics" Dicx Chenney, Dicx Nixon, Dicx Army, Dicx Looger...hmmm so many Dicxs???? Too bad we can't wright "***"...

[brianbwb-2009]

Democrats="tax and spend", come on, Mr. Armey, that lie is so tired even you don't really believe it, only a moron cannot see that the largest deficits in history were created by Republican administrations to finance pointless and illegal wars, and did no good whatsoever for the American citizen. It's just more of your cheerleading mantra to rally the ignorant rednecks around your fake conservative flag.

Be glad that your own scandals have so far evaded the light of truth, ****, and collect your retirement pension, and quit sowing discord and egging on the Nazi movement. Americans are beginning to reject your style of corruption.

[andor3]

it is a very good sign that the right wingers are retreating so far and taking refuge hiding behind trite and worn out phrases like "tax and spend," ignoring that the republicans now are the spenders and borrowers far exceeding the democrats. Or that the Congress has achieved most of its goals.

And laughably trying to make "liberal" seem like a bad way to be--it's actually the American way.

Or outright making stuff up, like "...running Congress is a privilege..." Actually it is the right of the majority party

[r9119111]

The Republicans are still running this country because of Presidential vetoes and Congressional Party loyalty blocking any and all efforts opposed to their view. So, don't blame the Democrats. I was a Republican until 1994 at which time I turned Independent. Because of the parties recent history, $500 million won't be enough to buy my vote. The Repubs have been placing corrupt party loyalty ahead of the good of our country. How unpatriotic can the Repubs get? They better not shove patriotism in our facesl those hypocrital __***___!

[delfmast]

www.editorialstaff.net, Franklin D. Lomax
It is routine to throw out the majority, be it Democrats, or Republicans, when they visit the page quarters too often, Barney Franks was not forced to retire, or when their lobbyist friends rifle the treasury too rampantly or take a Presidential romp with an intern, Clinton, a secretary, Roosevelt/Eisenhower, every female on earth, JFK. Fortunately, the carnage tends to remove the Republican abusers, improving our results. The bought votes of the unions and dole addicted "yellow dog Democrats" for whatever reason tends to encourage the Democrats, see Barney Franks, JFK, Clinton, so that the poor judgement involved taints all that the democrats undertake, to their permanent disadvantage. Additionally, with several billion enslaved peoples pouring their whole stolen wealth into the destruction of Pax American Coalition, OPEC, China, Russia, Africa, we have enough wars and rumors of war, with terror attack wake up calls to put the most successful criminals, those whose base applauds their *** ways, into the permanent disloyal minority. Let us be thankful for the permanent state of war between us and the SinoRussoAfro and OPEC terror masters. Given lasting peace, the democrats could destroy the entire world's economy, with their socialist agenda. It is counterintuitive to imagine that any large group of Americans, the Democrats, would commit to a government medical system run exactly like your local DMV.,

[tbuccelli]

Wake up people. It is interesting that people are here just bashing Bush and the Republicans, without denying the comments made by the author.
- Did McNulty gavel the vote closed early?
- Did Pelosi and crew try and remove/suspend the minority's rights that were in place since 1822?

The thing is, the Republicans wasted the time they had in power, if they really wanted to cut spending, they could have. BUT, some of these same Democratic screw-ups were in power then as well. All we have done is change who is leading the dance, they are still doing the same jig, with a few changes in players. They are ALL a bunch of crooks, its just different lobbies now hold more sway. Big oil on the way out, hollywood and lawyers on the way in. Telecom will always be there.... They current politicians in office do not represent the people, the represent their own greedy interests. Until more people recognize that there are crooks in both parties, we are all doomed to poor leadership.

[bluestardad]

DEMOCRATS HAVE SQUANDERED THEIR MAJORITY BY PASSING ANY FUNDING OF THE IRAQ WAR!

BUT MOST KEY DEMOCRATS ARE BOUGHT BY THE ISRAELI LOBBY GROUP AIPAC AND WILL NOT CUT FUNDING FOR THE WAR!

[cofmanaaron]

Two quotes I can pick apart: "Republicans anxious to rebuild their fiscal conservative brand before the 2008 election. Republicans will need to continue their opposition to government-sponsored health care. The majority sees changes to the nation%u2019s health care system as opportunities to take control of nearly one-fifth of the national economy, while Republicans seek ways to give families and individuals greater control over their health-care options." and "The Labor/HHS/Education bill alone would spend more than $11 billion more than what President Bush requested and $7 billion more than what was spent in the previous fiscal year."

OK, Republicans as rebuild as examples of fiscal discipline? I think the events of the Bush presidency should show that is not a strong suit of Republicans, staging mismanaged wars on faulty intelligence, handing out no-bid contracts to Halliburton and Blackwater for gain of Republican insiders, and absurd tax cuts for the benefit of the wealthiest Americans. Meanwhile, the democratic plan corrects the tax system and gives us a balanced budget while spending in the right places. For example, a national health system would be far superior to the HMO system that taxpayers are already paying for in corporate handouts like the Medicare plan.

[cofmanaaron]

And the part about begrudging money for education: Isn't that what we should be spending money on, maybe its a higher priority than Georgie's little war? What is the deal with republicans, why all the elitism, love of aristocracy, and bloodlust?

[sjc_1]

It is my understanding that the Feds pick up less than 10% of the tab for educating children in this country. Bush cut Pell grants for college and the Democrats had to restore it. Bush rewrote the rules for student loans rising the interest rate dramatically and the Democrats had to fix it.

If people do not see what the Republicans stand for then they are not looking. They could blame it all on Bush, but they rubber stamped just about everything he wanted the last four years. They have a LOT of explaining to do back home between now and election day.