Before leaving for its August break, the United States Congress went on another spending spree:
From new entitlements such as a GI bill for military veterans to
recent federal commitments to shore up a troubled housing market,
Washington is taking on obligations with long-term consequences for
taxpayers. At the same time, critics say, lawmakers aren’t exercising
the oversight needed to keep these commitments manageable.“In
the last three or four months, the momentum has really built up for
more spending,” says Michael Franc, vice president of government
relations for the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in
Washington. “Congress has moved a whole range of bills that take the
problem up another notch.”Here are some of the items.
? A new housing law, signed last week, commits the government to backing some $300 billion in troubled mortgages.
? A higher education bill adds $169 billion over the next five years.
? The GI bill that extends education benefits to veterans or their family members will cost $62 billion over 10 years.
? Congress boosted the statutory debt ceiling by $800 billion to $10.6 trillion. That’s $4.8 trillion more than it was at the
end of 2001.
As a cost-savings measure, I suggest that we not allow Congress to return to Washington until, say, 2010.
