DUSTIN GAWRYLOW: AN UPDATE ON THE EARMARK DEBATE
Last Friday, we told you about the debate over congressional earmarks going on in Washington, D.C. Today, there has been a major development.
U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has changed his mind about earmarks and has announced that he will now support a moratorium on earmarks.
As was reported last week in newspapers and on the radio, this debate has deeply involved North Dakota.
As the Grand Forks Herald indicated in today's editorial, the real challenge is to get a handle on all the entitlements that make up the bulk of the federal budget.
"Defense spending as a portion of our national budget has actually declined over the past 40 years," writes David Walker, former comptroller general of the U.S.
"Its former dominance has been replaced with a new budget behemoth: entitlement programs, primarily Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, that grow on autopilot.
"In 1969, defense represented 45 percent of the federal budget, while by comparison Medicare/Medicaid and Social Security represented 19 percent. In 2009, defense represented 19 percent of the federal budget, including the cost of Iraq and Afghanistan, while Medicare/Medicaid and Social Security combined represented 38 percent."
It will be interesting to see what the moratorium on earmarks creates. A moratorium is not a full or permanent ban; nor is it reform of any kind.
We can hope that during the moratorium, folks like North Dakota's Senator-elect John Hoeven would be willing to lead the charge to make the kinds of reforms the Grand Forks Herald calls "reasonable."
Last Friday, we told you about the debate over congressional earmarks going on in Washington, D.C. Today, there has been a major development.
U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has changed his mind about earmarks and has announced that he will now support a moratorium on earmarks.
As was reported last week in newspapers and on the radio, this debate has deeply involved North Dakota.
As the Grand Forks Herald indicated in today's editorial, the real challenge is to get a handle on all the entitlements that make up the bulk of the federal budget.
"Defense spending as a portion of our national budget has actually declined over the past 40 years," writes David Walker, former comptroller general of the U.S.
"Its former dominance has been replaced with a new budget behemoth: entitlement programs, primarily Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, that grow on autopilot.
"In 1969, defense represented 45 percent of the federal budget, while by comparison Medicare/Medicaid and Social Security represented 19 percent. In 2009, defense represented 19 percent of the federal budget, including the cost of Iraq and Afghanistan, while Medicare/Medicaid and Social Security combined represented 38 percent."
It will be interesting to see what the moratorium on earmarks creates. A moratorium is not a full or permanent ban; nor is it reform of any kind.
We can hope that during the moratorium, folks like North Dakota's Senator-elect John Hoeven would be willing to lead the charge to make the kinds of reforms the Grand Forks Herald calls "reasonable."
DakotaBeacon