Cut Spending! Just Not Here!

By Dan Testa, 2-05-10

In what I see as a sort of a reverse NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) effect, a short item in the Washington Post points out how "fiscal conservatives" in Washington are criticizing President Barack Obama's budget as bloated and wasteful, while turning around and blasting Obama for cutting programs in their districts that look pretty darn unnecessary from here in Montana. I've heard Jon Tester try to make this point to constituents at public meetings: The idea that all government programs look unnecessary unless they affect you; then they're sacred.

From the Post:

Sen. Christopher S. Bond (R-Mo.), for example, lashed out at Obama for "the same old big government budget that will spend too much, borrow too much, and tax too much." He said: "I'm feeling a lot like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day."

But at the same time, Bond issued a statement criticizing Obama's proposed cuts in the military's C-17 aircraft program -- cuts that happen to affect thousands of jobs in Missouri.

*snip*

Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), called Obama's budget "another massive budget filled with even more spending than last year's record totals."

But in the Lexington Herald-Leader back home, a McConnell spokesman made it clear that the senator opposes Obama's proposal to slash coal subsidies by $2.3 billion over 10 years as part of his climate change legislation.

*snip*

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) slams Obama, saying that "instead of reigning in this out-of-control spending, the President has proposed a budget that would increase deficit spending by 35 percent over the next five years."

But like other members of the Texas delegation, Cornyn takes exception to the spending cuts Obama has proposed to the NASA space program, which would affect jobs in Texas.

[End of article]