A Return to Fiscal Conservatism?

Fire of Liberty
Kevin Hassett, director of economic policy studies at AEI and columnist over at Bloomberg, has a good piece out today that notes that the Republicans in Congress can salvage their past record on fiscal responsibility. As Hassett notes, the GOP can regain their laurels of fiscal conservatism by putting air brakes on pork-barrel spending and initiating some kind of budget rules that restrict over-spending. In fact, Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire is heeding to the fiscal restraint mantra of Coolidge, Reagan and the Gingrich Republicans of 1994 by proposing new budget rules that would tap down on the wily-nily spending fever that has run rampant in Congress of late. Here's a look at what Hassett has to note about Sen. Gregg's interesting proposal:

That's why fiscal conservatives have been trying to rally support for stringent new budget rules, and that's where Senator Gregg comes in. Last week, he announced a new proposal, the ``Stop Over-Spending Act.'' A look at the cleverly abbreviated ``S.O.S. Act'' suggests that it is exactly the type of legislation that might help.

The most important feature of the bill is that it gives the president a line-item veto. If such a device can be constitutionally inserted into the process, it would go a long way toward ending the embarrassing earmarks. Why would any senator or representative take all the negative publicity about a ``bridge to nowhere'' if the president is going to nix it?

After that, the bill establishes a goal of reducing the deficit to 0.5 percent of gross domestic product, compared to the Congressional Budget Office's projection of 2.8 percent for this year.

Spending Cuts

Should Congress be unable to control itself, and not meet that goal, the bill would require that virtually all spending be reduced across the board.

The bill addresses the profusion of emergency spending bills by capping emergency spending at a low level, and establishes a Commission on Accountability and Review of Federal Agencies to identify and help eliminate wasteful expenditures.

Finally, it converts the annual budget process into a biennial one, on the grounds that extending the budget to two years will give Congress more time to scrutinize each program.

Here's hoping that Sen Gregg gets his fellow Senators to pass his proposal and restore the mantle of fiscal responsibility to the GOP.