It’s difficult to argue that Congress is either taxing the American people too little or spending too little. It takes in trillions of dollars in taxes each year but spends more than $1 trillion beyond what it takes in.
Do you believe all of that federal spending is really “necessary,” or important enough to be added to our $13.7 trillion national debt, on which we have to pay $400 billion just in interest this year?
Few of us understand our complex budget. But wouldn’t you like to get some expert counsel, then wield a “blue pencil” to mark out the spending you believe is unconstitutional, unnecessary, wasteful or just plain unwise?
We hear a lot about budget “earmarks” these days. What are they? They are spending items that members of Congress put into the budget for special local projects of interest to their constituents. We are told “earmarks” cost “only” about one-half of 1 percent of all federal spending. But they add up.
We continue to recall that the late Sen. Everett Dirksen, an Illinois Republican economizer, is credited with saying something along the lines of, “A billion here and a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money!”