Posted on 09/23/2005 8:13:00 AM PDT by Reagan Man
(Capitol Hill) CNSNews.com -- He may still be the darling of cultural conservatives, but President Bush's budget decisions have prompted one of his allies in Congress to assert that conservatives have no business comparing Bush to one of the most popular conservative presidents ever - Ronald Reagan.
"Some of us came here (to Washington DC) to reduce the size of government after the model of Ronald Reagan or others who tried to cut out government programs that weren't necessary. Others came here to streamline government or to make it more efficient, or to reflect more traditional values," U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) told Cybercast News Service Wednesday.
"President Bush isn't here to cut the size of government, he's here to perhaps have government more reflect the values of the people," Rohrabacher explained, following a Capitol Hill news conference sponsored by the 110-member Republican Study Committee aimed at promoting federal spending cuts to offset the costs of Hurricane Katrina.
"But at times like this, when we have an emergency where so much money is needed, it is incumbent upon us to cut the spending that is not absolutely necessary, not just make it reflect this value or that value," Rohrabacher added. Congress has already authorized two hurricane relief bills totaling $62.3 billion and some experts estimate that Hurricane Katrina will eventually cost the federal government $200 billion.
Rohrabacher dismissed the Sept. 13 remarks of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas), who argued that the federal budget was running at peak efficiency. "Yes, after 11 years of Republican majority, we've pared it down pretty good," DeLay said.
"I am not sure what Tom had in mind, but I know that anybody who can't see that there is still fat in the federal budget probably can't tell the difference between a pig and a race horse," Rohrabacher said.
U.S. Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) also warned about unrestrained federal spending.
"I think the mounting federal debt could someday challenge this country in a way that no military power has ever been successful in doing," Franks told Cybercast News Service.
"In 10-12 years, we are going to be facing kind of a perfect storm, when the baby boomers like [me] who have been a source of great revenue for the country, begin to retire," Franks said.
"Rather than putting into the system, [baby boomers will] begin to take out of it and when the trajectory of some of these social programs that we have are on par now to crowd out all discretionary spending, we are in a situation where just the debt itself could take a third or more of the revenues in 10-12 years," Franks explained.
"That is something we can't sustain," he continued. "Any time a country has done that for any extended period of time, they have gone into economic decline and in many cases complete disaster."
U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) said the proposed hurricane recovery spending plan offers Congress the opportunity "to actually start whittling away at the size of government and our budget" in order to afford those unexpected expenses.
He also disagreed with the notion held by many supply side economists that "deficits don't matter.
"I have been in these arguments with folks who suggest that deficits don't matter, but I have never heard them say that lower deficits aren't better," Tancredo said.
The Colorado Republican proposed selling off 15 percent of federally-owned land to raise revenues to offset the costs of Hurricane Katrina.
Members of the conservative National Taxpayer Union were also on hand with signs reading "Compensate for Katrina, Cut Costs," "Rescue Taxpayers from a flood of red ink" and "Deficit Spending is a Disaster Pending."
But on this one, he's right.
I repeat, BUSH IS NOT A CONSERVATIVE!
Btw fellow FReepers, if you post on this thread, please lets keep it civil. Okay guys.
He's spot on. This is going to haunt the GOP moving forward. The party is morphing into Democrats Light.
Uh Ronald Reagan actually raised taxes(1982).
Bush is not only not a conservative, he would have been called a radical leftist maybe 100 years ago.
I won't be voting for Bush again. That I can guarantee.
Reagan at least knew which drawer his veto pen was in. Bush has not used it a single time. Not once!
And you would still be called a right wing tinfoiler(equivalent of the much larger kook left/democrat black helicopter crowd) today.
Well, duh.
For someone invokign Reagan's name, however, he seems to have forgotten the 11th Commandment.
We taxpayers are screwed and that's the bottom line...
The military budget grew to fight the cold war against the Ruskies. It has paid off big time! Bushs social spending makes Clinton look like a tightwad.
Exactly. That is probably the biggest criticism I can think of for this President. Signing crap like McCain-Feingold, pork-filled transportation bills, etc, etc are the one place he needed to show leadership.
He needed to take a leadership position on spending restraint long ago. That fact, and his immigration stance are two blemishes on an otherwise fantastic Presidency.
Cong Rohrabacher, Franks, Tancredo and the other Congressmen in the 110 member Republican Study Committee, want to get federal spending under control. NOW!
Master of the Obvious.
I sided with the right thing to do from the beginning. Vetoing it.
THis is crap, under Reagan the budget exploded not only defense spending but ever dept increased greatly. and yes Reagan used the Veto, some because he had a Democratic control Congress for the most part. Last time I took a civics class it is the congress that passes the budget, you want to be pissed, be pissed at the republicans in congress like Rohrabacher. Yes, Bush has taken the easier political route of not vetoing bills so he won't be accused of starving kid's school lunches or having the media scream about the "split republican party" by not vetoing bills from a republican controlled house.
One thing is true the Republican Party is no longer the Republican party it is fast becoming the Donner party.
Go ahead, get it all out, you will feel better.
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