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The Free Congress © Commentary:
By Paul M. Weyrich
While meeting with Congressional leadership, President Bush warned that if Congress exceeds the $40 billion in new spending he has already authorized, he will veto the additional spending. Much of the media carried the reaction of Senator Robert C. Byrd (D.-W.V.) the Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. Byrd was dripping in sarcasm telling Bush that if he wanted to be responsible for citizens not being inoculated against small pox, for airports and roads not being improved, for more unemployment benefits being extended and on and on, then let him veto the bills. Well, Byrd is an unreconstructed old style liberal Democrat, so why is there any surprise that he would say what he said. What the media didn't cover were the comments of Senator Ted Stevens (R.-Ak.) who said nearly the identical words in a meeting with some fifteen of his GOP colleagues. Stevens sneered at his fellow Republicans and repeated the Byrd mantra. That caused Senator Rick Santorum (R.-Pa.) to ask Stevens if he really intended to put that sort of burden on President Bush. Stevens said that is exactly what he intended to do. Here is the point. There are three political parties in Washington: the Republicans, the Democrats and the Appropriators. They are a separate party onto themselves. The leadership of the parties may want to pass the Appropriations bills and to adjourn. Not if the appropriators are not in agreement. The Congressional leadership wanted to go home by Thanksgiving. No way, say the appropriators. They intend to be in session until mid-December if not longer. The appropriators of both parties and both Houses speak the same language. This is truly bi-partisanship. But it is bi-partisanship to rip off the American taxpayer. Byrd has been around since the 1950's. He has held the Appropriations Committee's Chairmanship or Ranking Member post for many years. If you cross him, the next time you want money for a project in your state you can forget it. Senators or not, they all genuflect before Robert C. Byrd. Stevens has been around since the1960's. He is perpetually in an angry mood. He threatens his colleagues. He brow beats them. And Senators genuflect before Stevens. There are a few exceptions. Majority Whip Tom DeLay went on Appropriations just to try to break the back of the appropriators. He has been more successful than anyone else but still they often out maneuver the entire GOP House Leadership. What is happening right now, in the wake of September 11th, is a massive disgrace. These appropriators, in the name of public safety and order, are dredging up every disgraced program previously discarded even by the Clinton White House. They have used up every dime of surplus dollars. And in doing so they are thumbing their noses at the President and the Congressional leadership. Believe it or not, these appropriators even on occasion outflank Tom Daschle, the Senate Majority Leader. The spotlight needs to shine on the rat havens in the Capitol. Unless the public understands what these legislators are doing and what it is costing the taxpayer, the game will just go on and on. For about three days after September 11 it looked as if the third party appropriators might drop their own agendas and would cooperate with the Congressional leadership. Well, fat chance. That all went out the window by September 15th. The situation is much worse than it has ever been before. This rip-off gang is so outrageous now, that maybe at long last they can be caught. Paul M. Weyrich is president of the Free Congress Foundation.
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