Column by Jacob Sims

Congress and the White House just don’t seem to get it. Every taxpayer in the United States has to be thrifty with their money, spend it wisely and balance their budget in the midst of this economic downturn; neither Congress nor the White House is doing any of these things. Every American is required to pay their taxes, and they are punished if they don’t; members in Washington D.C. that don’t pay their taxes get nominated to Obama’s cabinet. Every American understands that their actions have consequences, and if they make a bad decision, they have to deal with the repercussions. Congress seems to reward the individuals and companies that made those bad decisions.

Obama has called for a “new era of responsibility,” which, by name alone, I would adamantly support. The problem is that these are merely words with no substance. I know it is difficult to remember the election season since it was so long ago, but if you recall, Obama was elected on a number of Republican ideals and typically conservative talking points. He claimed that he would balance the budget and stated that he would end wasteful pork barrel legislation, neither of which, it seems, he will do.

During the campaign, Obama declared, “we need earmark reform, and when I am president, I will go line by line to make sure that we are not spending money unwisely.” The president made a vow with John McCain to reform the process of earmarks, a pledge that, as his words indicate, he plans on breaking again. I say again because he recently signed the $787 Billion dollar “spendulus” package that was laden with earmarks, and he is about to sign another $410 Billion dollar spending bill that, depending on who you ask, has anywhere from 8,000-9,000 pet projects that have been added to the bill. According to the nonpartisan Taxpayers for Common Sense, there is $7.7 billion of wasteful pork barrel spending in this bill.

We are at the heart of an economic decline, in which every dime makes an impact in the lives of Americans. There is no need to waste our money on this spending spree when families and their children are the ones that are feeling the squeeze of the economy. Parents are losing jobs. Kids are suffering. Families are hurting. Minorities have been hit hard. Our age group has been hit the hardest in regard to unemployment.

President Obama has warned repeatedly of the danger that we are in (reciting the word “crisis” 25 times in one speech). Why then, would he allow $7.7 billion to be spent on projects that spend $7 million on saving Hawaiian sea turtles or $2.6 million on the monk seal? The list goes further: $5.8 million for the Ted Kennedy Institute, $9.5 million to remodel the committee rooms in the House of Representatives, $238,000 for the Polynesian Voyaging Society, $950,000 for Myrtle Beach International Trade and Convention Center, $5.6 million for explorers at the JASON Project, $100,000 for the Maine Lobster Foundation and $150,000 for Maine Lobster research. Since I am such a nerd, I actually read the bill, and trust me when I say that it gets more bizarre and even more ridiculous.

It is not to say that these things aren’t nice things to do or have. I compare it to the new 2010 Mercedes Benz E-Class that is coming out in April: I would love to have it but, sadly, I cannot afford it. Unfortunately, Congress and Obama apparently don’t (or in Bush’s case, didn’t) understand this concept.

If Obama genuinely believes that we are on the brink of another Depression, why is he allowing Congress to spend irresponsibly in his “new era of responsibility”?

The argument he makes is that he will allow it now and take care of it later. I don’t see that happening when Steny Hoyer, Democratic Leader of the House, says, “I don’t think that the White House has the ability to tell us what to do.”

Not that I think that Obama planned on it anyway. His administration, with the advice of Stanley Greenburg and James Carville, decided to pick a fight with Rush Limbaugh and create a false epidemic instead of following through on his word to make sure that Congress isn’t spending money unwisely. Nothing has changed. It is still business as usual in Washington D.C.