But now, the same GOP members are mocking Barack Obama for proposing to cut a larger figure in wasteful government programs? :wtf:
Republicans Deride Obama's $17B Proposed Cut in Federal SpendingWASHINGTON -- The ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee said Thursday he's not impressed by President Obama's proposal to cut $17 billion out of the federal budget.
Appearing on FOX News, Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., said it's important to place the $17 billion figure in the context of the president's $3.4 trillion budget.
"It's as if you took a teaspoon of water out of the bathtub while you left the spicket on at full speed," he said.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/05/06/white-house-official-obama-cut-programs-save-b-budget/JOHN MCCAIN'S GOP CONVENTION ACCEPTANCE SPEECH TEXTI've fought the big spenders in both parties, who waste your money on
things you neither need nor want, and the first big-spending
pork-barrel earmark bill that comes across my desk, I will veto it. I
will make them famous, and you will know their names. You will know
their names.
We're not going to allow that while you struggle to buy groceries,
fill your gas tank, and make your mortgage payment.
http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/president/conventions/videos/transcripts/20080904_MCCAIN_SPEECH.html For fiscal 2008, the budget watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense said there was $18.3 billion earmarked in spending bills. Citizens Against Government Waste came in at $17.2 billion. The Office of Management and Budget tallied earmarks at a mere $16.9 billion.
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/the_budget_according_to_mccain_part_i.htmlSeptember 30, 2008
The larger problem with this anti-earmarks strategy is that they don't amount to much. Earmarks represent just $16 billion of the 2008 budget. Yes, that's a lot of money, but it's not everything. McCain makes it seem like earmarks are central to the federal government. In Fairfax, he blamed earmarks for high food and gasoline prices and the trouble that many homeowners face in making mortgage payments.
McCain also vowed, as he always does, to make the authors of earmark legislation famous by embarrassing them as a way to cut down on the practice. I wonder.
http://www.slate.com/id/2199757/