Runaway spending is a bipartisan problem
For the past year, Republicans have been criticizing Barack Obama for out of control spending. So they must be pleased that they have forced him, in his State of the Union address, to concede the point by proposing a freeze on outlays of the kind Republicans generally don’t like.
Well, not exactly. After the administration floated a plan to cap non-defense, non-security discretionary spending for the next three years, the opposition party erupted in jeers.
The complaints were many: It affected only one-eighth of the budget, it came on top of big increases, and the savings would be trivial next to the deficits that are in the pipeline.
The loudest catcall came from a spokesman for House GOP leader John Boehner of Ohio: “Given Washington Democrats’ unprecedented spending binge, this is like announcing you’re going on a diet after winning a pie-eating contest.”
All the criticisms, as it happens, are true. Obama’s claim of stern fiscal discipline—“we are prepared to freeze government spending for three years”—collapsed into comical irrelevance as soon as he listed all the programs that won’t be included: national security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, which happen to be the Four Horsemen of the Fiscal Apocalypse.
There’s more: Unspent stimulus funds amounting to $165 billion. Other “mandatory” programs like unemployment and food stamps. Interest on the debt, which will triple in the next three years. Obama is going on a hunger strike, except during mealtimes.
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