Bush's 'Fiscal Restraint' - How Politicians Think

By Paul E. Scates

The headline was enough to make any American taxpayer stand up and cheer – “Bush Threatens Veto of Runaway Congressional Spending.”

But wait a minute...who is this “Bush” who’s making such a promise? If it’s our president, we need to recall that during the past ten years, while the Republican Party has controlled Congress, he didn’t veto even one appropriations bill. Even the most expensive public works legislation in history, the $286.4 BILLION highway appropriations bill of 2005, which contained over $24 BILLION in earmarks – i.e., pet projects selected by virtually every senator and representative to gain favor with voters by providing federal funds in the form of construction projects and jobs, and added just prior to the final votes so nobody has the opportunity to question or oppose these expenditures. (Full Story)