Three years ago, President Bush went to war against congressional pork. His official 2003 budget even featured a color photo of a wind-powered ice sled — an example of the pet projects and alleged boondoggles he said he would no longer tolerate.
Yesterday, Bush effectively signed a cease-fire — critics called it more like a surrender — in his war on pork. He signed into law a $286 billion transportation measure that contains a record 6,371 pet projects inserted by members of Congress from both parties.
I suppose this shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. The same thing happened to the Congressional Republicans who came into office on the wave of the 1994 “revolution” and ended up co-opting nearly every provision of the “Contract With America” in order to make mutually beneficial deals with President Clinton. So, no, its not a surprise, but it is distressing. Just once, I’d like to meet a politician who lives up to their word.
Bush at that time said he would reject any bill over $256 billion. Then he lifted his limit to $284 billion, and ultimately signed a bill with a price tag that is $286 billion only because of a gimmick that hides additional costs of up to $9 billion, Schatz said.
Sigh.
