My Perspective: More Wasteful Spending + No Muscle Flexing = Weakness

In a time when the American people are hurting and the America’s economy is suffering, the United States Congress has decided to spend wastefully. Yes, Nancy Pelosi and Congress believes that in tough economic times, it is better to wastefully spend taxpayers money on any and everything rather than thoughtful spend it on things that will help the American people as well as the American economy. However all the blame shouldn’t be placed at the doorsteps of Congress because although they passed the $410 billion spending bill that is layered with $7.7 billion in earmarks, President Obama had the opportunity to veto the bill but instead signed it into law.

President Barack Obama decided not to flex his muscle by vetoing the $410 billion spending bill. In fact, President Obama called the bill imperfect and said let it be the old way of Washington. However what President Obama doesn’t realize is that why should we allow an imperfect bill that waste more taxpayer dollars than the $787 billion stimulus bill that was passed last month. President Obama told us the American people while on the campaign trail that he would line item veto any earmarks that made no sense.

With the opportunity to flex his muscle in the first attempt to veto earmarks that made no sense, President Obama choose to not flex his muscle. Therefore, Congress got to waste more taxpayer dollars and President Obama choose to not flex his muscle to veto the spending bill, which is why America has gotten weak. President Obama had an opportunity to show strength by flexing his muscle and vetoing the $410 billion spending bill. Therefore President Obama has shown weakness in a time when the President needed to show muscle.

President Obama has shown strength in talking about Wall Street and Republicans in D.C. but he has not shown that same muscle when dealing with members of his own party. President Obama has backed down from Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid time and time again since taking over as the President of the United States of America. In fact President Obama has been all talk since the Presidential campaign has ended when it comes to reforming Washington and its politicians. President Obama’s first test against earmarks went by with the President signing the $410 billion spending bill behind closed doors instead of in public like he did with the $787 billion stimulus bill.

It is clear that the members of Congress only care about spending America’s taxpayer dollars any way that they see fit while at the same time raising their own salaries. Yes a measure that would have eliminated the automatic pay raises of our U.S. Congress members was defeated by many Democrats. In a economic recession that requires fiscal responsibility, it is clear that our federal government wants everyone else to practice it except for them. Congress talks about Wall Street companies giving their employees pay raises but Congress is set to receive yet another automatic pay raise by the end of the year which Congress has received practically every year.

Therefore with Congress passing this latest $410 billion spending bill that is filled with $7.7 billion earmarks that are wasteful, it is sad that no one is standing up for the American people when it comes to how the government is spending our money. President Barack Obama who is supposed to be for the people has decided to back down to his own party and former colleagues in Congress. President Obama has tried to flex his muscle with rhetoric but when it comes to putting actions into place that show Obama’s flexibility to stop wasteful spending in D.C., little strength has been shown. Congress has decided that it is better to spend wastefully than thoughtfully while at the same time, President Obama has decided that he will not challenge his own party and earmarks until later on the down the road.

Well the truth is that, President Barack Obama could have flexed his muscle by vetoing the $410 billion spending bill but President Obama said, there are many more things to get done and he doesn’t want to slow up progress over this. Nonetheless, if President Obama isn’t willing to challenge Congress now than when and how will he challenge them? While President Obama laid out how more transparency will come in regards to earmarks being revealed to the American people. President Obama gave a nice speech but action is regarded right now. The time for speeches is over. The American people need action.

The American taxpayers needs checks and balances in place so that no more of our tax dollars is being wastefully spent on pet projects that are not beneficial to the American people long term. The American people need for our newly elected President to stop giving speeches and photo ops every few seconds and we need for him to show action by vetoing some of Congress legislation that does more harm than good. The American people don’t need rhetoric but we need action that will finally put the banking industry in check. The American people don’t need Nancy Pelosi drafting any more pieces of legislation but we need for President Obama to put her in check in terms of how you is acting as a rogue liberal by abusing her power as the speaker.

Enough is enough; the American people are tired of the wasteful spending that is accompanied by no muscle flexing which in term brings about weakness. The American people are getting sick and tired of the speeches. We the American people need actions in a time of a recession. We the American people need for our American government to practice fiscal responsibility and stop wasting our tax dollars. We the American people need for our American government to stop giving their pay raises when they haven’t done anything to award a raise. We the American people need strength not weakness from our politicians.

More wasteful spending plus no muscle flexing equals weakness and that is exactly what is taking place right now in America. America is seeing more weakness from our nation’s leaders in a time when strength is not only wanted but it is needed. America’s strength needs to be shown not only in speeches but in actions. Until President Obama flexes his muscle and starts vetoing some of what Congress is doing than we the American people will continue to suffer. No more wasteful spending, more muscle flexing and no more weakness. We the American people need muscle flexing plus fiscal responsibility which will equal strength.


Congress approves massive $410B spending bill--By ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press Writer
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090310/ap_on_go_co/congress_spending

WASHINGTON –Congress on Tuesday cleared for President Barack Obama's signature a $410 billion measure to fund the government, a measure denounced by most Republicans as an example of reckless spending. The Senate approved the measure by voice after it cleared a key procedural hurdle by a 62-35 vote. Sixty votes were required to shut down debate.

Obama will sign the measure Wednesday, the White House said, but he will also announce steps aimed at curbing lawmakers' penchant for pet projects.

The $410 billion bill is chock-full of lawmakers' pet projects and significant increases in food aid for the poor, energy research and other programs. It was supposed to have been completed last fall.

The bill ran into an unexpected political hailstorm in Congress after Obama's spending-heavy economic stimulus bill and his 2010 budget plan forecasting a $1.8 trillion deficit for the current budget year. And Republicans seized on Obama's willingness to sign a bill packed with pet projects after he assailed them as a candidate.

"If it had not been for the stimulus and the budget proposal it might have been ... noncontroversial," said House GOP leader John Boehner of Ohio. "The stimulus bill riled an awful lot of people up. ... And then the budget proposal comes out."

Within Democratic ranks, there was relief, not jubilation.

The 1,132-page spending bill has an extraordinary reach, wrapping together nine spending bills to fund the annual operating budgets of every Cabinet department except for Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs.

Described by lawmakers as a $410 billion measure — but officially tallied by the Congressional Budget Office at $408 billion because of technicalities involving heating subsidies for the poor — the bill was written mostly over the course of last year, with support from key Republicans such as Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, the Senate's No. 3 Republican.

They sit on the Senate Appropriations Committee. McConnell is the successful sponsor or co-sponsor of $76 million worth of pet projects, known as "earmarks," not requested by former President George W. Bush, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, a budget watchdog group. Alexander obtained a more modest 36 earmarks totaling $32 million.

Alexander supported the measure in the end; McConnell did not.

But bipartisan support for the bill evaporated after projected deficits quadrupled and Obama's economic recovery bill left many of the same spending accounts swimming in cash. Congressional aides say the true cost is closer to $410 billion once heating subsidies for the poor passed last year are included.

Some Republicans noted that the government has been functioning just fine for more than five months at last year's funding levels.

"Why not go back to 2008 levels," said Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas. "That would be a responsible action that might start giving confidence to the American people."

At issue is the approximately one-third of the budget passed each year by Congress for the operating budgets of Cabinet departments and other agencies. The rest of the budget is comprised of benefits programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid — as well as interest payments on the swelling $11 trillion national debt.

Adding in spending bills passed last year for defense, homeland security and the Veterans Administration — as well as $288.7 billion in appropriated money in the stimulus bill — total appropriations so far for 2009 have reached $1.4 trillion. And that's before the Pentagon submits another $75 billion or so request for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Appropriated spending for 2008 was $1.2 trillion; Obama's budget for next year calls for $1.3 trillion in appropriations.

Democrats had long feuded with Bush over domestic appropriations levels and stopped action on the nine bills last year, gambling that Obama would win the election and restore hundreds of cuts proposed by Bush.

And, to the embarrassment of Obama — who promised during last year's campaign to force Congress to curb its pork-barrel ways — the bill contains 7,991 earmarks totaling $5.5 billion, according to calculations by the Republican staff of the House Appropriations Committee.

Among the many earmarks are $485,000 for a boarding school for at-risk native students in western Alaska and $1.2 million for Helen Keller International so the nonprofit can provide eyeglasses to students with poor vision.

At the same time, the measure chips away at several leftover Bush administration policies. It clears the way for the Obama administration to reverse a rule issued late in the Bush administration that says greenhouse gases may not be restricted to protect polar bears from global warming. Another Bush administration rule that reduced the input of federal scientists in endangered species decisions can also be quickly overturned without a lengthy rulemaking process.

The big increases — among them a 14 percent boost for a popular program that feeds infants and poor women and a 10 percent increase for housing vouchers for the poor — represent a clear win for Democrats who spent most of the past decade battling with Bush over money for domestic programs.

Generous above-inflation increases are spread throughout, including a $2.4 billion, 13 percent increase for the Agriculture Department and a 10 percent increase for the money-losing Amtrak passenger rail system.

Congress also awarded itself a 10 percent increase in its own budget, bringing it to $4.4 billion. But the measure also contains a provision denying lawmakers the automatic cost-of-living pay increase they are due next Jan. 1.


Congress Gives Final Approval to $410 Billion Spending Package --By Brian Faler
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aDNdcsItvPuE&refer=home#

March 10 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Congress gave final approval to a $410 billion spending bill that includes an overall 8 percent budget increase for some federal agencies and thousands of congressional pet projects.

The Senate approved the so-called omnibus measure on a voice vote, sending it to President Barack Obama for his signature. Moments earlier, the bill cleared a procedural vote 62 to 35. The House approved the plan Feb. 25.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said before passage that he was “very” surprised at how long it took lawmakers to reach agreement on the legislation. He said the bill will provide needed funding increases for federal agencies that saw too many lean budgets during former President George W. Bush’s administration.

“The agencies of our government have been so underfunded and under-resourced during the Bush years that these agencies need this money so they can function properly,” said Reid.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said Congress shouldn’t be providing budget increases that are twice the rate of inflation. “This bill costs far too much for a government that should be watching every dime,” he said. “If the president is looking for a first bill to veto, this is it.”

The omnibus measure combines nine annual appropriations bills left over from last year that are needed to fund federal agencies unrelated to defense through this September, when the government’s fiscal year ends. Those agencies are currently funded by stopgap legislation that expires tomorrow; the budgets for defense programs were set last year.

Domestic Programs
The bill provides an overall budget increase of 8 percent for domestic programs, with some regulatory agencies receiving double-digit increases. The Consumer Product Safety Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission will get 31 percent funding increases, while the Food and Drug Administration’s budget will grow by 19 percent.

The legislation also includes almost $8 billion sought by lawmakers for about 8,500 pet projects, according to a tally by the Washington-based Taxpayers for Common Sense. Among the spending on these so-called earmarks: $1.8 million for swine odor and manure management research in Iowa, $2 million to promote astronomy in Hawaii and $381,000 for music programs at New York City’s Lincoln Center.

The earmarks put the Obama administration on the defensive. White House officials were forced to repeatedly explain why they would accept legislation including thousands of the projects after touting its determination to keep them out of the $787 billion economic stimulus package enacted last month.

‘Uglier Than We’d Like’
White House Budget Director Peter Orszag said in an interview March 8 on CNN that the bill is “uglier than we’d like” and that the administration “absolutely” would have written it differently. He said the administration was eager to put the legislation behind it.

Arizona Senator John McCain, the former Republican presidential candidate, led efforts to try to strip the bill of all or most of the earmarks. Those amendments were defeated.

Reid tried to wrap up work on the omnibus last week before conceding he didn’t have the votes to overcome a key procedural hurdle without help from Republicans, who withheld their support until they were allowed to offer more amendments.

Democrats defeated all of the additional proposals, including one today that would have deleted a phase-out of a pilot program in Washington, D.C., that allows 1,700 poor children to attend private schools at public expense. Republicans, who created the program in 2003, portrayed Democrats as hypocrites for ending the initiative when many lawmakers send their own children to private schools.

‘Privileged’ Senators
“Why should the choice to send children to good private schools be the right of only a privileged senator’s family or those who make a lot of money?” said Senator John Ensign, a Nevada Republican, during today’s debate. “A good education is a civil right and this should not be the exclusive purview of the rich.”

Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, the chamber’s No. 2 Democrat, defended the phase-out, saying too many of the private schools in the voucher program are substandard.

He said that while there are some “world-class schools” in the initiative, in others “somebody’s mom or wife declared themselves principal or teachers and went in to teach without college degrees -- and received federal subsidies to do it.”

Democrats also defeated an attempt by Senator David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican, to end the practice of giving members of Congress automatic annual salary increases.

Travel to Cuba
Democrats shored up their own ranks when concerns raised by Senators Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Bill Nelson of Florida about provisions in the bill involving Cuba were allayed by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. The provisions will loosen restrictions on the exports of farm and medical products to Cuba and let U.S. business executives travel more freely to the country to market those goods.

Geithner pledged to the two lawmakers that his department would closely monitor enforcement of the provisions.

“I would, of course, prefer that the provisions not be in this bill at all but the assurances that I have received from Secretary Geithner have allayed my most significant concerns,” Menendez said on the Senate floor today.

Under the bill, the budget for the House will increase by 10 percent while funding for Senate operations will grow by 8 percent. Another provision will kill an initiative to allow Mexican trucks to travel more widely in the United States.

The bill is H.R. 1105.

To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Faler in Washington at bfaler@bloomberg.net.