HELP ALL GOVERNMENT CUT THE FAT!

The graphic design to the left is by Stacy Tabb and has been released via Glen Reynolds at Instapundit for use in helping the blogosphere identify fat in the federal budget that can be cut in light of the extra spending needed to help rebuild the gulf coast as a result of Hurricane Katrina, and with Rita in the wings, this might be more important than ever! Current forecasts show it aiming for Corpus Christi, Texas but that could change.

This blog has on several occasions complained about congressional spending and the lack of oversight on the budget or use of the veto pen. Most recently here and also here in my old site.

This whole concept is especially important given that we now have an example of what can happen if we do not restrain spending and continue with the nanny state to its logical conclusion. Germany has just elected "Who Knows" as the new chancellor. By that, I mean that as things currently stand, neither German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats (SPD) nor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (the CDU/CSU coalition) have enough of a lead to take control of the German Government. Merkel started out strong saying the Germany of the future could no longer afford the high spending/low income of the past and that market changes needed to be made to reduce the 11% unemployment rate and the cost of their cradle to grave social spending. But she dropped the ball by inelegantly fending off charges of a Flat Tax which Schroeder's SDU pegged as the poor paying more than millionaires in taxes...despite the fact that there was a generous $42,000 family income sheltered from the tax. The end result was an election in which the SDU garnered enough votes that there well may be 225 seats for each in the Bundestag. This all but guarantees "GRIDLOCK" in the German government.

Germany currently has a difficult future UNLESS there are some substantial and fundamental changes in the way they do business. The cost of the social programs which most Germans are lothe to give up is staggering, unemployment is at 11% and shows no tendency to drop at the present time. Anti-American sentiment is rampant amoung the elete as the poster put up by one of Schroeder's compatriots (Rolf Schwanitz) in the SPD to garner votes indicates. It translates as "She [Merkel] would have sent soldiers" an obvious attempt to make the eastern German voter shy away from voting for the CDU/CSU coalition. Kinda reminds you of Johnson's girl picking daisys in 1964 doesn't it? And it also shows, given the SPD's vote total, how much anti-Americanism is present in Germany.

Full Disclosure, I was born in Germany in 1946 to American parents who were part of the then occupation. I love Germany and have many fond memories of living there. My wife and I were in Berlin on 9/11 and we are grateful to the citizens of Germany who kindly made sure that we were kept up to date and who protected our cruise ship against what could have been world wide strikes against American interests. It saddens me to see this farce being played out.

It saddens me more that unless congress does something, unless President Bush shows some fiscal restraint, we are in danger of turning into another Germany. Oh, not the nazi caricatures of the radical left vis-a-vis Bush, but their welfare state with declining population, increasing unemployment, and a budget busting spendthrift attitude that we will find the money "somewhere."

I have contacted my congressman and asked him to help cut the fat. My letter is as follows:

Dear Congressman. As you are aware, President Bush has called for massive spending in the wake of the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina. Too, it appears that Hurricane Rita may be headed for our own coast and may cause further destruction on a grand scale.

I am very concerned that the amounts proposed, while greatly needed are also budget busters of the first magnitude. I know that there is plenty of so called pork in the federal budget that can be cut for the betterment of society as a whole, and not for a particular congressional district. For example, the Transportation bill recently signed by President Bush contains millions of dollars for a bridge from Ketchikan, Alaska to an island of only 1500 persons. Sir, I've been to Ketchikan, the good people there almost brag about how difficult it is to get there, boat or plane, that is it. And yet, it is a thriving town, and quite beautiful as well. This bridge is a boondoggle of the worst sort.

I'm hoping you can identify and lead the charge to eliminate this and other pork spending so that as a unified country we will be in fact able to afford those things that need to be done vis-a-vis natural disasters.

I am a blogger, yes, one of those dreaded "pajama clad" folk who put their opinions out for everyone to see. But I am also a patriot and a citizen of a great congressional district, a great state and a magnificent country. I will be willing to put your answer on my blog as an update to a current post and as a singular post as you so desire.

Sir, we have much to do and not much time to do it. Won't you please take the lead and begin the process, get other Democrats and Republicans behind the effort to reform the budget, realign our priorities and get our house in order?

Sincerely
George Roper
GM's Corner (http://gmroper.com)

Ruben Hinojosa (D, 15th Congressional District) is a good man. His family has built H&H meats from a small business to a good sized operation with many, many employees. He, like many Democrats tend to spend too much, but he is also a patriot. Let's see what his response is. His only Republican opponent was in 1996 and '98 and though I am nominally a Republican, I've always supported Mr. Hinojosa. I've voted for Mr. Hinojsa each time he ran, let's see how his response is to this urgent matter.

UPDATE: Stephen Moore writing in the Wall Street Journal (both available in the dead tree edition and online) has a slightly different take on the Republican (and Democrat - my point, not his) spending spree. The "Money Grafs" (pun intended):

This flood of money comes on the heels of a massive domestic spending build-up in progress well before Katrina traveled its ruinous path. Federal spending, not counting the war in Iraq, was growing by 7% this year, which came atop the 30% hike over Mr. Bush's first term. Republicans were already being ridiculed as the Grand Old Spending Party by taxpayer groups. Their check-writing binge in response to the hurricane only confirmed, as conservative leader Paul Weyrich put it, that "the GOP, once the party of small government, has lost its bearings and the Republican establishment doesn't seem to get the message that the grass roots of the party is enraged."

Congressman Todd Aiken of Missouri complains that Congress was forced to vote on the $62 billion first installment of funds "even though we knew a lot of the money may go to waste." Mr. Aiken and several dozen other House conservatives proposed an amendment to the $62 billion hurricane relief bill that would offset at least some of the emergency spending by cutting other government programs a meager 2.5 cents out of every dollar that federal agencies spend.

Was the amendment defeated? No. The Republican leadership would not even allow it to come to a vote, on the grounds that there was no waste which could be easily identified and cut.

Dozens of other reasonable proposals to offset Katrina's tidal wave of deficit spending have been similarly repelled. Mike Pence of Indiana suggested a one-year delay on the multitrillion dollar new prescription drug benefit for senior citizens. For 220 years, seniors have managed without this give-away; one more year of waiting would hardly be an act of cruelty. It would save $40 billion, but there were no takers. Then there was the well-publicized idea by Republicans and several Democrats in Congress to cut $25 billion for bike paths, train-station renovations, nature trails, parking garages, auto museums and 6,000 other such pork projects in the just-enacted highway law. It was torpedoed by the powerful committee chairmen who patched this abominable bill together in the first place.