Conservatives Push Back on Earmarks
The White House floated a trial balloon yesterday through the New York Times, suggesting that it wouldn't defy Congress by ignoring the earmarks contained in the FY08 omnibus bill, but instead would insist that some kind of reform be made in the future.
Well, conservatives have popped that balloon.
Today's Washington Examiner editorial believes that Bush has lost his spine on earmarks. Excerpt:
...Bush hesitates to exercise his authority. Surely he doesn’t fear challenging a Congress that trails him in public approval surveys. House Republican Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., has reportedly warned administration officials that meddling with earmarks will anger GOP members who are responsible for 40 percent of those in the 2008 spending bills. But what about angry taxpayers who see their hard-earned tax dollars being shoveled out the back door, and who correctly view earmarks as politically corrupting payoffs?
James Joyner takes a more cynical view, suggesting that Bush didn't have a spine in the first place when it comes to wasteful spending:
Certainly, nothing in his seven years as president would lead me to believe that he’s concerned about fiscal responsibility.
Erick at RedState.com is fed up. He writes:
[I]sn't it appropriate that when the President finally decided to do a clean break with fiscal conservatives he did it by leaking to the New York Times that he was capitulating in the face of Republican threats from the Hill.
Ed Morrissey blasts his ire at both Bush and Congress:
[W]hen our elected officials demand that they keep their money in exchange for doing the nation's business, they have identified themselves as commodities to be bought and sold, if not the explicit basis of the sales. If Bush wants to end that kind of politics using the clear authority he has to do so, he will have no better opportunity.
Finally in a Roll Call article ($) this morning, the Co-Chairman of the Senate Porkbusting Army, Jim DeMint, highlights the gravity of the situation:
"This is a pivotal test for our party and our president. This will signal to America if we have learned the lessons of 2006 or if we are going to continue to wander in the wilderness. The president has an opportunity to secure a real fiscally responsible legacy. I hope he doesn’t allow big spenders to talk him out of doing the right thing for taxpayers,” DeMint said Tuesday.
