Penny-Wise Pelosi: Democrats try to reinvent themselves as the party of fiscal discipline.

Opinion Journal ^ | 9/27/05 | Brendan Miniter

[Crackingham]

If Democrats retake the House next year, we can mark the start of the party's resurgence to a speech Nancy Pelosi delivered on Capitol Hill last week. It was there, at a press conference called to attack Republicans over their response to Hurricane Katrina, that the House minority leader actually used the words "waste, fraud and abuse" in talking about government spending.

What Ms. Pelosi and a few other Democrats seem to be figuring out in the wake of Katrina is that Americans aren't happy with their government throwing billions of dollars around with little if any accountability. Therefore she's laying out a legislative agenda aimed at capturing the mantle of fiscal responsibility. So far that agenda includes calling for an "antifraud commission" to look into Katrina spending as well as an independent examination--modeled after the 9/11 Commission--of the government's response to the monster storm. And, of course, her party has long attacked Republicans for deficit spending and no-bid contracts to Halliburton in Iraq. A Halliburton subsidiary is already coming under scrutiny for receiving a contract to help rebuild the Gulf Coast.

What Ms. Pelosi is now counting on is that as Republican spending goes through the roof, obstructionism might finally pay off for Democrats.

This may come as a shock to some on the right. It shouldn't. Republicans have held the House for almost 12 years and have occupied the White House for all but eight of the past 25 years, yet they have failed to shut off the spending valves in Washington. It was only a matter of time before Democrats ran against wasteful Republican spending. It's also not surprising that Democrats would claim the mantle of fiscal responsibility, for that claim has won them elections in the past.

[nevergore]

Compared to the way the Republican's have been spending money...they well may be....

NeverGore :^)

[Credo]

The Democrats are masters at saving money by gutting our National Security and intelligence capabilities.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Uh huh. Fiscally responsible while enhancing the welfare state, running charity scams, and brokering sweet deals for business buddies.

When Klinton became president, it's amazing how many Arkansas businesses were getting federal contracts. Funny how the media never looked into how many of those contractors were actually performing work.

[LonePalm]

Nancy Pelosi: Penny wise? Found foolish.

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

[goldstategop]

If Republicans don't wake up and cut spending, they should be tossed on their derrieres and they deserve it. Why bother voting for them when we can get a real liberal party?

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[nevergore]

There's no doubt that the Demoncrats spend money on the wrong programs, for the wrong reasons, Socialists without a brain (redundant, I know).....

But the Repub's are spending money like drunken sailors...

What happened to the party of fiscal responsibility and low taxes?

NeverGore ;^)

[rockprof]

It really annoys me that Democrats can even think of making political points on government spending and illegal immigration. Many (most?) of the Republicans in Washington (including Bush at times) aren't acting like Republicans. I never understand why they're so spineless.

[Santiago de la Vega]

Government spending can be the most productive activity on earth, and we should be very careful to distinguish between productive public goods and pork-barrel vote buying.

Consider New Orleans and the money they spent warehousing poor, ignorant, and discriminated-against voters.

Had they spent the same amount of money on new and improved levees, we would've saved a lot of agony and future spending.

Republicans are correctly concerned with spending, but an indiscriminate aversion to big deficits will both cost them future elections, and make the country less safe and productive.

The Democrats are becoming the party of nothing if they abandon the last good plank in their platform. One thing the Donkeys understood is that public spending can be very productive. The Republicans were averse, and it cost 'em at the polls.

Reagan understood how productive big deficits could be, especially if used for national defense. Bush has learned from the master, and now has taken away the spending issue from the Democrats. In the name of fiscal discipline, he'll start to cancel the vote-buying schemes of the past 60 years.

Since the Great Depression the Democrats have owned the Public Goods issue, and now they want to give that issue to the Republicans?

This is really dumb.

[driftless]

While I'm still a huge Bush supporter, I know a great deal of the money earmarked for Katrina will get flushed down the same ratholes they've been getting flushed down for decades in Lousiana. Bush is between a rock and a hard place. If he doesn't allocate gobs of federal money to help rebuild La, he's a typical heartless, racist Republican to many apolitical types as well as libs. If he does allocate the dough, to conservatives he's a wasteful lib spender in Republican clothing .

The fact is under any circumstances, EVEN if Reagan were the prez, NO would get rebuilt with a lot of help from Uncle Sam. How it will get rebuilt and how the fed dough is used will be a big test for Bush and will require a lot of watching by conservatives to see that as little of the money gets wasted as possible. I'm not real optimistic that a great deal of it won't, but the fact remains that rebuilding NO without fed help i.e. money is not an option.

[Credo]

There's no doubt that the Demoncrats spend money on the wrong programs, for the wrong reasons, Socialists without a brain (redundant, I know).....

But the Repub's are spending money like drunken sailors...

What happened to the party of fiscal responsibility and low taxes?

NeverGore ;^)

I think when the Clintons left the White House and were trashing the place, in addition to the looting of things like the "W"'s off all the keyboards, they must have taken the Presidential Veto Pens.

Clinton found the Veto Pen occasionally. Bush never has.

[Alia]

Fiscally, interesting.

President Bush was slammed as a racist for not helping the people of New Orleans. Now that he is, and using good money to do so... Democrats wanna stop it?

[WhiteGuy]

The Democrats are masters at saving money by gutting our National Security and intelligence capabilities.


Wasn't there a gop majority in congress for 6 of the 8 clifton years?

[Brilliant]

To Dems, the term "fiscal discipline" means tax increases.

[Credo]

The Democrats are masters at saving money by gutting our National Security and intelligence capabilities.

Wasn't there a gop majority in congress for 6 of the 8 clifton years?

Correct. In National Security & Intelligence, generally the executive must lead. Clinton vetoed bills that cut Social programs but let the military wither. Unfortunately it seems, Congress Critters (of either party) will keep the pork and cut the muscle. It seemed that the GOP immediately after the '94 elections was ready to do business, but the shutdown showdown put them in their place.

I have less confidence with the Democrats controlling the purse i.e Congress in regards to National Security as opposed to the GOP.

I would agree that the GOP's lack of fiscal discipline is a disgrace.

[reformedliberal]

That is correct.

I just saw yesterday that the LA Department of Health returned a vast amount of Federal money earmarked for health issues due to Katrina. From that article (sorry, I didn't bookmark it), I gathered that the Federal money goes into a holding account and every request for reimbursement must be backed by an invoice. Money not used seems to remain available for a period of time, but even the eventual need was something like one-fifth of the original amount alloted.

More than likely, Pelosi is outraged that money is not being funneled directly to donks with no oversight, thus allowing huge amounts to be stolen and diverted to donk payees.

The donks have been railing on about wasteful tax cuts (for the rich) for years. Nothing new here, just another opportunistic attempt to turn everything into a platform.

The success of supply-side economics has Pelosi in an apoplectic state.

IIRC, the majority of the Federal funds are to be used under the Stafford Act, which directs the Federal Government to pay 75% of all infrastructure (highways, airports, sea ports and perhaps schools and public hospitals) rebuilding costs in the event of a disaster. In some instances, they have picked up 100% of such infrastructure costs in the past. The money is not going directly to individual Louisianans and the $50k/per person characterization is just polemic. W specifically alluded to that which the government was "obligated to pay by law" and IIRC, he also specifically referenced infrastructure rebuilding costs.

Landrieu and Vitter and the LA House delegation are simply doing what everyone does: requesting much more than is needed and specifically requesting funds for various pork projects, knowing these requests will be cut and denied if they do not meet Stafford Act specifics. They can then demagogue the Republicans over *insensitivity* to LA needs. They will also state that if *all* the *requests* cannot be met, then it is *obvious* we need to get out of Iraq and raise taxes. Lately I have heard them promoting a *temporary* surcharge....as we all know, such surcharges never go away. They become huge windfalls, usually for donks.

We cannot win this one. If the amount paid by the Feds is below that requested by the LA delegation, the administration and the GOP will be (are being) accused by the donks of "not caring" (tm) The amounts for highways and bridges and airports are, by definition, going to be in the billions and the very idea will make fiscal conservatives ill.

It will all be, as usual "Bush's Fault" (tm)