It seems to me Congress has forgotten that the first duty as one of the three branches of the Federal government is to see to the safety and security of this entire nation. But if you look carefully at what is going on in Washington right now, you would think Congress has decided their primary duty is to play Santa Claus to all their political friends. Actually, it started before 9-11 and the war on terrorism.
We are now spending more than $100-Billion (that's with a B ... Billion) more on social programs than we were two years ago. Social programs, mind you not the war.
But now we are adding to the budget for the war effort, and it looks like every social program ever dreamed of by whatever liberal has made it to Congress is being added to the Homeland Security budget. Actually, it is worse than that, for there are a whole lot of pet projects and porkbarrel stuff getting in the budget, too. Somebody got $2-million tossed in to take care of the worm collection at the Smithsonian, and some bureaucrat in Washington said they should do that because it is "JUST $2-million.' And the Senate is holding up needed legislation simply because the Senate is controlled by the Democrats and they don't like what the Republicans are doing, and this is an election year. And there are Senators saying to the White House, in effect, "if you don't put our social programs in the hopper we won't go along with your war."
It seems to me Congress has forgotten what their job is. They have forgotten the money they are throwing around is hard-earned money extracted from us taxpayers. And most discouraging, they have lost any desire to balance the budget. If somebody is going to compare them with a drunken sailor, I'll take the Navy man.
This is Gordon Sawyer, and may the wind always be at your back.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/7/191883