Brian Riedl
Brian Riedl
consider deciding gets worthy
Earmarks could be worthy or not, but we still consider it corrupting because lawmakers are deciding who gets a grant.
special treatment
Why do they need special treatment to get a grant?
believe government orleans prioritize safety therefore top washington
Even small-government conservatives believe Washington should prioritize defense, safety and security, and therefore see rescuing New Orleans as a top government priority.
children costs means passed
What that means is those costs are being passed down to our children - with interest.
candidates difficult political shortage
There is no shortage of candidates for elimination. There is only the shortage of political will to make the difficult decisions.
budget control credible fabulous job leading mike proposal realistic republican specific spending study talking virtually
Mike Pence has done a fabulous job leading the Republican Study Committee. They have put out a realistic and credible and specific budget proposal to get spending under control when virtually no one else is talking about it.
cut nearly savings total
Nearly all of their savings comes from this cut to total discretionary spending. That does nothing for the real long-term problem.
highway montana
Montana is getting more highway pork, but so is every other state.
budgets federal program threatens
More than anything else, this one program threatens the long-term federal budget.
days few precious
There are precious few legislative days before the election.
bleeds congress creates cultural culture effect federal government larger lobbyists means percent spending together true
Yes, it's true that earmarks are only 1 percent of all federal spending, but earmarks have a cultural effect on Congress that is much larger than their cost. It fuses Congress together with lobbyists and creates a culture of government spending as a means to re-election, which bleeds into other areas.
annual bold budget budgets deficit fiscal good growing growth immediate issue overwhelm pledge president programs proposal propose quickly rate reforms slow threaten trends
President Bush's pledge to halve the budget deficit by 2009 distracts policymakers from the real issue of unsustainable trends in long-term entitlement spending. The president's proposal to slow Medicare's 9% annual growth rate is a good fiscal step, but the budget does not propose enough immediate and bold reforms to the quickly growing entitlement programs that threaten to overwhelm the budget.
ability cripple cut explore given hunger nasa national nor represents
NASA represents something important in the national psyche. Given that, there isn't a lot of hunger to cut NASA substantially, nor to cripple their ability to explore space.
education programs room social threatened
Those who are advocates of anti-poverty programs, social programs, education, have their programs threatened by runaway entitlements. There won't be room for both.