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 ighting
terrorism is correctly now the nation's number one priority. It
will be difficult and it won't be cheap, as illustrated by the $40
billion appropriated by Congress this month for openers. No doubt
the coming years will see hundreds of billions of additional antiterrorism
spending. The question now isn't whether or not we should spend
more, but rather where will the money come from, and how well it
will be spent?
Congress and
the president have two options. They can repeatedly go back to the
American taxpayer during these tough economic times, or they can
systematically cut government waste and pork-barrel projects to
move tens of billions of dollars into essential programs. It's great
the political parties are cooperating in this time of crisis, but
where is the bipartisan effort to cut pork to protect Americans
from evildoers?
It doesn't
require anything close to the heroism on display in New York and
the Pentagon for an official on Capitol Hill to lead the way in
giving up his pork projects. The nation is waiting for a senator
to say, "I will sacrifice the $3.5 million I have requested
to restore the Vulcan statue in Alabama to pay for three Tomahawk
cruise missiles." Taxpayers are looking for a few good members
of Congress to state, "We don't need $5.8 million this year
to study wood utilization, since we've spent $62 million on this
research since 1985. It's more important to use the money to buy
an M-1 Abrams tank and two dozen Sidewinder missiles." If every
member of Congress had taken these steps last year, our defense
and intelligence services could have had $18.5 billion more than
they did this year. Who knows what good those resources could have
done?
But it's not
too late to trim next year's bacon. In fact, the timing could not
be better. Congress is poised to pass a continuing resolution through
October 16th, and over the next three weeks consider each of the
13 appropriations bills that run government. Will a member of the
House or Senate stand before the American people and say, "I
will give up $150,000 for the Rock School of Pennsylvania Ballet,
enough to buy half a dozen Maverick missiles for the fight against
terrorism?" Will some appropriator sacrifice this year's installment
of $200,000 for international asparagus competitiveness? Certainly
such frivolous expenditures can be left for another, better day.
Members of
Congress did not take a "no-pork pledge" when the nation
had a $292 billion annual deficit. A national debt of $5.5 trillion
wasn't enough. Even with Social Security imperiled by tens of trillions
of dollars in unfunded liabilities over the next 30 years, legislators
have steadily ratcheted up hometown pork: $12.1 billion in fiscal
'99, $17.7 billion in 2000, and $18.5 billion in fiscal 2001, which
ends September 30.
In just six
of the 13 spending bills now being considered on Capitol Hill for
fiscal 2002, CAGW has found 3,056 earmarks worth $5.6 billion; including
$35 million for parking lots and garages; $4.3 million for shrimp
aquaculture research, $3.7 million for bicycle paths, and $2.5 million
for agriculture waste management. These amounts would pay for a
large arsenal of ammunition, weapons, and aircraft. Of course, pork
is just a drop in the bucket of misused money that pervades Washington
— CAGW estimates $1.2 trillion will be thrown away in waste,
fraud, and mismanagement over the next five years — but its
elimination would be an awfully good start.
To provide
appropriate resources for national security, in the short term it
is acceptable to use payroll taxes as a source of funding. But,
it is not acceptable to rely on such monies indefinitely when there
are scores of outdated, mismanaged, and redundant programs in the
budget soaking up resources that should have been eliminated decades
ago.
In this crisis,
it would be easy to ignore the need to reorder priorities and conserve
resources. But when terrorism is finally under control, will Americans
be happy with an even bigger government that has not made a sufficient
effort to become more efficient and effective?
Members of
Congress should work night and day to pass spending bills that reflect
the new reality and reject their old, wasteful ways. They should
choose guns over pork and provide citizens with a safe, secure,
and fiscally responsible nation.
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