A Victory Worth Giving Thanks For

President Bush achieved his second post-election victory over Congress late last week. As taxpayers, we should all give thanks. After winning passage of the Homeland Security bill, President Bush returned to a long running fight over federal spending his administration has had – with Republican appropriators. The Republican appropriators finally blinked and agreed to the reduced spending levels requested by the President all year long.

The term “Appropriators” needs some explanation. The term refers to those members of Congress who serve on the Appropriations Committee. Under the U.S. Constitution, Congress has the power of the purse, and the Appropriations Committee controls most of the government’s annual spending. It is a very powerful committee. Most members of Congress seek the chance to serve on the Committee – to have the title “Appropriator” added to their resume. And why not? The Committee represents nirvana for the traditional politician – of either party.

When they “make” a congressman or senator an appropriator he or she goes to a very comfortable place. Committee members take great pride in their bipartisanship. Staff provides in great detail the process for how a Member can get funding for projects in his or her district or state. No directions, however, are provided on how to eliminate projects. Colleagues show great respect and even admiration for the member that knows how to work the system and “load-up” a bill with his her special pork barrel projects. On the other hand, the Member who asks questions and publicly criticizes a particular project is quickly shunned. Yes, the Committee demonstrates how bipartisanship can work – it can work to grow government.

Enter the Bush Administration. Whatever you may think of President Bush, he has demonstrated a remarkable intolerance throughout his life to the elites and the establishment. So when the Republican appropriators went to the president and told him his budget did not give them enough money, he said too bad, spending has already grown like crazy and the Administration budget is what the country can afford right now. But, the appropriators explained that is not really how the process works – we can’t actually expect our members to cut spending. The result was one of the worst budget stalemates in recent memory.

To both sides’ credit, they were arguing over real money. The President wanted $10 billion less than the Senate Democrats – and Republican appropriators were telling the administration all year to give-in to the Senate number. When $10 billion gets added to federal spending in one year, the actual price tag grows with each succeeding year. The $10 billion just gets added on to the “baseline” next year. So over the next ten years, the Congress and the President were arguing over at least $100 billion. Furthermore, if the President had lost this showdown, no one doubts it would have only emboldened the appropriators for next year’s go-round.

After months of stalemate the President did what the appropriators could not – he took his case to the voters. At every stop in his final campaign blitz, the President made federal spending one of his key points. He said he needed the voters’ help in his fight with Congress over spending. The results of November 5 speak for themselves.

The President wasted little time in using his newfound clout. For month after month Republicans appropriators kept telling the President and his Administration that they were being unreasonable. Well, last Friday; the Republican appropriators announced they would pass all of the appropriation’s bills – at the president’s requested level – before the January State of the Union speech. There were of course staff complaints about “having to fit a size 50 waist into size 34 pants,” but the President won.

When it comes to federal spending, those who favor less government, lower taxes and more freedom have seen very little to be encouraged about over the past several years. Federal spending has skyrocketed over the past five years. President Bush, himself has been less than perfect. The Farm Bill he signed was a expensive policy mistake. But, because of the stubbornness of the president, we won an important victory last week. It is worth giving thanks for on this important American holiday!