The sequester was a victory for advocates of small government and a major defeat for the Obama administration. It was also a defeat for the special interest bottom feeders who leech off the American taxpayer. But they’re not going down quietly:
The defense aerospace industry gave 60 percent of its donations to Republicans during the 2012 elections. The high-tech industry gave 59 percent of its contributions to the Democrats. Now, representatives of both industries are teaming up to push back on a common threat: U.S. budget cuts.
One crony begging for handouts even used the President’s false “investment” euphemism for government spending:
“We can talk all we want to about cutting spending,” said Wes Bush, chief executive officer of Northrop Grumman Corp. and chairman of the Aerospace Industries Association. “We know over the long term, reducing the deficit involves growing our economy. Growth requires investment.”
His claim that “growth requires investment” is a clever slight of hand. Investment is indeed good for growth, but government spending is not investment. The evidence shows that too much government is bad for economic growth.
To make matters worse, Republicans are on the verge of selling out taxpayers and snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. The latest reports indicate that leaders of the two parties are conspiring to raise spending beyond sequester levels:
The two congressional budget leaders — Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) — are considering a plan that would give relief to some of the domestic and defense programs most burdened by the sequester through 2015 by replacing those cuts with budgetary savings in other areas, according to sources familiar with the negotiations. New revenue through fee increases — not tax hikes — is likely.
Fees are just taxes by another name – the point is government is set to grow once again.
CF&P recently joined with 18 other groups to warn Republican leaders against undoing the sequester. I’ll close by reiterating this simple point from the letter:
If Congress reneges on promises to restrain spending just two years after the passage of discretionary spending caps, it would send a powerful message to the American people: Congress cannot control its profligate spending.
