This week Congressional Republicans cut a deal with the White House to keep the current tax rates for at least two years, cut payroll taxes for one year, and reinstate the death tax. Whatever you think about the merits of this deal, one thing is crystal clear: Congress’ top priority next year must be to cut spending. It is important that conservatives continue to communicate that (1) Washington has a spending problem not a revenue problem and (2) that despite attacks from the left, conservatives do have clear, actionable plans for balancing the budget and reducing the national debt.

Over at The Heritage Foundation, our latest video highlights over $343 billion in specific spending cuts that can be tackled immediately. The cuts are focused on empowering state and local governments, consolidating or privatizing programs, and eliminating programs that have been proven to be ineffective.

But this is just the start.

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There’s a battle brewing over Earmark reform in the Senate, and Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma appears ready to make it very public.

Inhofe has emerged as the chief opponent to DeMint’s anti-earmarking efforts and has quietly been preparing for this fight for months. He said Tuesday that he will deliver a “pretty strong statement” on the Senate floor Monday that will accuse DeMint of favoring earmarks until they fell out of political vogue.

However, DeMint has already acknowledged his past as an Earmarker and Inhofe has voted for a similar measure in the past. That turns any charge of simply playing politics back on him. This is also another example of the continued influence of the Tea Party movement. DeMint already has ten Senators lined up behind him. There’s said to be concern among Senators as to how a failure to act might reflect upon members up for re-election in 2012. The Tea Party has already shown its willingness to primary incumbents with which it disagrees. To paraphrase an old movie icon, Do you feel lucky, Senator? Well, do ya? (more…)

At a time when the American taxpayer is on the hook for trillions in current and future federal spending—when the Congressional Budget Office warns that the current rate of federal spending is “unsustainable”—liberal Democrats in Congress have earmarked over $68 million of taxpayer dollars for a Boston shrine to the late Senator Edward Kennedy.

In a detailed report, the Boston Herald describes the planned Edward M. Kennedy Institute as a “temple for Ted Kennedy built with pork.”

According to their account, congressional Democrats—especially Massachusetts senators John Kerry and Edward Markey—have been cramming earmarks for the project into various government funding bills. The Herald found that Kerry and Markey even intend to siphon $28.9 million of the institute’s funding from the Defense Department budget, with almost $19 million of that amount already signed into law.

Why do they think taxpayers should be paying for this shrine? A statement from a Kerry spokesman declared that the institute will bring “knowledge and good citizenship to thousands of young people.”

This has raised the ire of taxpayer watchdog groups. “If the Kennedy family wants to honor the senator, they should find a way to fund it themselves,” David E. Williams of Citizens Against Government Waste told the newspaper. Steve Ellis of Taxpayers for Common Sense agreed that “this could be independently funded and doesn’t need to be getting taxpayer dollars.”

Indeed.

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This new video from the Center for Freedom and Prosperity explains how last year’s so-called stimulus was a flop – and also reveals why politicians are pushing for another big-government spending bill.

Interestingly, since last year’s stimulus was such a disaster, the redistributionists in Washington are calling their new proposal a “jobs bill.” But as I say in the video, this is akin to putting perfume on a hog.

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From the Washington Times:

Charles Rangel (D-NY) was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1970.

Sen. Jim DeMint says Washington politicians are like fruit on the vine: the longer they hang around, the more rotten they get.

The South Carolina Republican – hearkening back to the days of the party’s “Contract with America” – on Tuesday offered a fix to the corrupting influence of “permanent politicians,” introducing an amendment to the Constitution that would limit Senate members to three six-year terms and House members to three two-year terms.

“As long as members have the chance to spend their lives in Washington, their interests will always skew toward spending taxpayer dollars to buy off special interests, covering over corruption in the bureaucracy, fundraising, relationship building among lobbyists, and trading favors for pork – in short, amassing their own power,” said Mr. DeMint, who is running for a second term next year. (more…)

Today’s edition identifies at least $333 million in wasteful Washington spending.

-$300 million stimulus program to promote energy efficiency may not be energy efficient after all, audit finds

-Quid Pro Pork: Department of Justice investigates link between the exchange of congressional earmarks and campaign donations

-Washington, DC, city government steered $4.5 million in federal funds to an AIDS housing group that never filed federal tax returns and has been plagued with service and cost complaints

-DC mayor launches investigation of groups that misspent more than $25 million of public AIDS assistance

-Political scientists debate the relevancy of the research they conduct with federal funds; “We’re kidding ourselves if we think this research typically has the obvious public benefit we claim for it.”

-National Science Foundation funds political science study of online town hall meetings held by Members of Congress (more…)

October 6, 2009

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK) today released the following statement after the Senate rejected Coburn amendments that would have forced Congress to shift earmark funds back toward vital operations and maintenance. By a vote of 25 to 73, the Senate rejected an amendment offered by Dr. Coburn that would have restored to the troops $165 million earmarked within the Defense appropriations bill’s maintenance and operations accounts for congressional earmarks.

“In a time of war it is unconscionable for members of Congress to divert funds from vital operations to less-than-vital parochial pork projects. I regret the Senate voted today to protect their pet projects at the expense of our troops,” Dr. Coburn said.

The Pentagon has also expressed concern over the excessive amount of earmarks Congress has requested:

“Every dollar that we are forced to spend on things which we do not need requires us to take money from things which we do need. And the people who lose in that trade-off are our troops and the taxpayers,” said Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon spokesman. (more…)