No Go on Pay-Go

The conventional wisdom in Washington, amazingly, is still that Democrats are "tax-and-spend" big government proponents who are wasteful with the people's money, while Republicans are austere and practice fiscal restraint. No vote could make a mockery of that line of thinking more than yesterday's in the Senate:

Senate Republicans on Tuesday narrowly defeated an effort to impose budget rules that would make it harder to increase spending or cut taxes, a move that critics said that showed Republicans were posturing in their calls for greater fiscal restraint.

In the first of several politically charged budget and spending issues confronting Congress this week, the Senate rejected on a 50-to-50 tie a proposal to restore what are known as "pay-go" rules, a requirement that tax cuts and some new spending be approved by 60 votes or offset by budget savings or revenue increases.

Democrats and a handful of Republican allies said that the added discipline was essential to getting a handle on the mounting federal debt and that the rules had been instrumental in reducing red ink before they were allowed to lapse in 2002.

"For those who say they are fiscally responsible, here is your chance," said Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota, senior Democrat on the Budget Committee. "You are going to be able to prove with one vote whether you are serious about doing something about these runaway debts and runaway deficits or whether it is all talk."

Of course, it is all talk. The Republicans currently in power haven't been serious about fiscal restraint for five years. Their idea is to borrow as much as they can on the national credit card, and pass the ballooning debt on to our children and grandchildren. Pay-go is as simple a measure as it gets, something that every family in this country can understand: you spend when you have the money, and if you don't have the money, you either raise it, or you don't spend it. Republicans don't want to do that. They want the reward of giving away loads of money to their corporate cronies for porkbarrel earmarks and tax breaks for the wealthy, without the pain of finding the money to pay for them. They want an Alice in Wonderland budget, a fantasyland where everything is possible. They aren't living in the real world. In November, we ought to do something about this.

I won't hold my breath waiting for Democrats to actually make this an issue, however. This is one of the most depressing things I've read in a long time. It's a one-on-one interview with my Congressman, Henry Waxman, where he says things like "I don't really know" if there's a plan to nationalize the midterm elections, and "I don't think there's really a unified plan" to present specific policy objectives. Come on, man! At least have one political bone in your body! Understand that we need to be engaged in modern political warfare, because the other side is not going to let up!

I fear that my party still doesn't get it. Democrats are great at governing, and horrible at elections. Republicans are the other way around. Will this ever change?