One of the reasons the Democrats won that resounding victory in the 2006
elections is that Republicans lost their way. In the 109th Congress
there was profligate spending which would have made President Lyndon B.
Johnson blush. Following the 2006 elections the Party leadership
resolved that the GOP was going to get back on track. The leadership
determined that spending was again going to be a major issue for the
Republicans.
Toward that end, Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO) has produced a booklet
to help GOP Members of Congress "in making the case for a smaller, less
intrusive, more efficient and more effective federal government."
The idea, said Blunt, is to provide Members, staff and those interested
in the issue with an easy-to-use instrument to craft speeches, prepare
for interviews and write op-eds for newspapers.
The booklet can be downloaded at
http://republicanwhip.house.gov/UploadedFiles/FINAL_Little_Gov't.pdf.
Among those assisting Blunt in the project were Minority Leader John
Boehner (R-OH), Conference Chairman Adam H. Putnam (R-FL), and Chief
Deputy Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA).
The Majority in the House of Representatives, for example, has passed
measures thus far which would triple the rate of inflation and almost
triple economic growth. The extra money required to pay for these new
spending bills would be raised by spending the surplus and raising
taxes.
The Majority's spending plan, the booklet says, can be put into context
as follows. At $2.9 trillion the level of spending is incomprehensible.
But the more common figure of $1 billion is understood as follows:
* If you went on a spending spree of $1,000 today and every day
you would have to shop for the next 2,740 years.
* A billion minutes ago the Roman Empire was flourishing.
* Yet the Federal Government spent $1 billion in the last three
and one half hours.
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