The raging Senate moderats

Politico reports that there is a group of 16 Senate Democratic moderates who think that this $410 billion pork-laden omnibus budget bill is a bridge too far for them in terms of spending. They want to scale back the spending and they're willing to lose their clout in the Senate to change the bill that came out of the House.

While the White House was willing to shrug and just allow the House Democrats stuff in whatever they wanted into the bill, these moderates are not so happy. Evan Bayh, the leader of the group, has a column today expressing his queasiness with all this federal spending.

The omnibus increases discretionary spending by 8% over last fiscal year's levels, dwarfing the rate of inflation across a broad swath of issues including agriculture, financial services, foreign relations, energy and water programs, and legislative branch operations. Such increases might be appropriate for a nation flush with cash or unconcerned with fiscal prudence, but America is neither.

Drafted last year, the bill did not pass due to Congress's long-standing budgetary dysfunction and the frustrating delays it yields in our appropriations work. Since then, economic and fiscal circumstances have changed dramatically, which is why the Senate should go back to the drawing board. The economic downturn requires new policies, not more of the same.

Our nation's current fiscal imbalance is unprecedented, unsustainable and, if unaddressed, a major threat to our currency and our economic vitality. The national debt now exceeds $10 trillion. This is almost double what it was just eight years ago, and the debt is growing at a rate of about $1 million a minute.

Washington borrows from foreign creditors to fund its profligacy. The amount of U.S. debt held by countries such as China and Japan is at a historic high, with foreign investors holding half of America's publicly held debt. This dependence raises the specter that other nations will be able to influence our policies in ways antithetical to American interests. The more of our debt that foreign governments control, the more leverage they have on issues like trade, currency and national security. Massive debts owed to foreign creditors weaken our global influence, and threaten high inflation and steep tax increases for our children and grandchildren.

The solution going forward is to stop wasteful spending before it starts. Families and businesses are tightening their belts to make ends meet -- and Washington should too.

Just think - Obama could have picked this guy rather than Joe Biden to be his vice president and run herd on federal spending.

We'll see if this group of Democrats will hang tough when they're faced with threats of the government shutting down if they don't pass this omnibus. Of course, the government doesn't haave to shut down. It can be run on a continuing resolution as it has been in the past. But you can't increase spending in a continuing resolution. What fun is that?

It would be an impressive thing for moderate Senate Democrats to care more about excessive spending than President Obama who seems willing to defer to the Congressional leaders among the Democrats to create much of his policy, from the stimulus to health care. Well, if the guy is going to be passive, it's time that some other Democrats step up to the challenge.