The GOP: The Appropriations Party?

The rise of the Tea Party movement, the defeat of Bob Bennett, the victory of Rand Paul -- all these have all been driven by a popular backlash against runaway spending in Washington. The Republican Party's hopes of retaking Congress rest on its ability to convince conservative and independent voters that the GOP will restore fiscal discipline if trusted with power this fall.

Yet take a close look at the people sitting around the table at the Senate Republican leadership meetings. There are nine senators at that table -- and all but three are members of the powerful and exclusive club that decides how American tax dollars are doled out: the Senate Appropriations Committee.

This is an op-ed article and doesn't sound like the typical leftist bias found in their news articles.

Perhaps you should read the entire article. From the last paragraph of the article:

"...opening up two seats at the leadership table. McConnell would be wise to use that opportunity to reach out to the conservative insurgents who are challenging the Republican establishment -- by bringing some senators who share their sentiments into the leadership tent."

Sounds like good advice to me and it's what I want to see happen. How about you?

“The current gop leadership makes me think it will business as usual.I will side with the MOVEMENT.”

I agree. If the Republicans achieve a majority in either or both houses of Congress we will see a return to the Republican majority in the early part of this decade that couldn’t find enough causes to fund.

If the Republican Party establishment were serious about federal spending, we would see a major public relations event supporting a balanced budget. Imagine Boehner and McConnell appearing on the steps of the US Capitol while at the same time every Republican governor stood on the steps of his/her respective state capitols. In unison, on live TV they pledge to introduce legislation for a Constitutional amendment to require a balanced budget except during time of declared war. They then walk into their respective capitols and formally introduce bills to adopt the Amendment. The governors each introduce legislation calling for a Constitutional Convention to ratify the amendment.

In addition the Republicans in Congress would pledge to vote against every appropriations bill, including defense and entitlements, until the Democrat majority passed a budget.

If the Republicans did the above, the people would support them in a landslide. The fact they don’t do it says they are full of talk but plan to conduct business as usual, just as they did the last time they were in the majority.

The Dems don’t oppose a balanced budget.

They want to balance the hugely bloated budget (that they caused with all their spending programs) by massively increasing taxes.

Constitutional Amendment = double edge sword.
ie: the law of unintended consequences; be careful of what you wish for.

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