GOP Succumbs to Hypocrisy on Clinton Spending Cuts

GOP Succumbs to Hypocrisy on Clinton Spending Cuts

Republicans took control of Congress in 1994 on the strength of their "Contract with America," a list of "do-able" campaign promises including an end to congressional self-exemption from federal workplace regulation, etc.
For at least two years, members of the Grand Old Party have beamed with self-congratulation over the success of this agenda.
This despite the fact that the "Contract" contained some weasel-words only a White House lawyer could be proud of.
For instance, Republicans say they haven't broken their promise to repeal the Feinstein-Schumer so-called "assault rifle ban." (This Democratic betrayal of the Second Amendment outlawed a number of semi-automatic military-

style rifles by name, or by banning specific features which have no demonstrable link to their use in any crimes ... such as the presence of a "bayonet lug.")
The reason congressional Republicans haven't broken their promise to repeal that absurd ban, we're told, is that they never actually promised to repeal it -- they only promised to "bring it to a vote."
Come on. Clearly implied in that language is the intent to work for restoration of the ability of law-abiding Americans to buy these militia-style arms, even if the first roll-call vote should fail. Once the members were on record voting up or down, the GOP could reasonably be expected to support those who voted for the repeal, and to oppose the re-election of those who continued to endorse Democratic victim disarmament.
Instead, the GOP leadership successfully threw its support to the opponent of the Republican freshman who did the most to hold his own leadership's feet to the fire on this issue,

Rep. Steve Stockman of Texas ... guaranteeing that Rep. Stockman's single-minded insistence on seeing his party keep its word on this issue would render him a one-term congressman.

Now, GOP representatives throw into doubt another important plank of their "contract" -- one over which Republicans have long preened -- the long-awaited presidential line-item veto.

Cynics expected the GOP to wait until a GOP president returned to the White House before taking the risk of handing this potent a pork-trimming tool to a Democratic president. Instead, the class of '94 did the right thing, acknowledging that the average GOP budget could stand an objective red-pencil job, as well.

Bill Clinton's use of the line-item power has been extremely modest. Among his few red-line jobs to date was the deletion of 38 military construction projects -- a modest $287 million from this year's $9.2 billion military construction authorization.

Yes, one of those deleted projects is a $2 million munitions facility at Nellis Air Force Base here in Las Vegas. But that's the way the porkmasters have always worked ... spreading the crumbs out among all the districts, hoping no one will notice that the total cost to any individual

taxpayer far exceeds the pro-rated benefit of the one local project.
On Feb. 5, the House voted by the overwhelming margin of 347-69 to override this presidential line-item veto, restoring funding for a new $20 million wharf at Virginia's Norfolk Naval Shipyard, a $16 million railroad track at Fort Carson, Colo., etc.
Mind you, these are not the boots, fuel and practice ammo our down-sized military still needs to keep in readiness. Nearly all these projects will primarily benefit the civilian construction contractors whose names appear prominently on the campaign contribution lists of local congressmen -- classic pork.
The override "is a vote to ensure that the line-item veto is used fairly, carefully and responsibly in the future," pontificated Rep. Ron Packard, R-Calif.
No it's not. Rather than part with a single tablespoon of their huge tureen of stuffing and gravy, this GOP congress now sets a precedent which any future Democratic Congress will gladly take up, to justify overriding the line-item vetoes of any future Republican president.
Make no mistake: The American public did not interpret the Contract With America as a promise that "We'll do these

10 little things, and then settle down to wallow in the same wasteful, self-serving trough the Democrats spent 60 years digging."

The Contract with America was mighty modest stuff, from a party that only 45 years ago was loudly vowing to roll back the entire Farley-Roosevelt New Deal.

But it was supposed to mark not a high-water mark for change, but rather a "paradigm shift" -- the first minor steps in a major course change toward more freedom and personal responsibility,

lower taxes and less government meddling ... a lot less.
If the GOP never really meant it, they shouldn't expect their stay in power to be long.

Vin Suprynowicz is the assistant editorial page editor of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Readers may contact him via e-mail at vin@lvrj.com. The column is syndicated in the United States and Canada via Mountain Media Syndications, P.O. Box 4422, Las Vegas Nev. 89127.

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