EDITORIAL: Democrats, Republicans agree: Pork is the entree of choice

Despite the poisonous partisanship in the nation’s capital, which culminated last week with the impeachment of President Donald Trump, Republicans and Democrats in Congress still manage to set aside their differences and do what they do best: feast on other people’s money.

As the two sides warred over the Democratic crusade to overturn the 2016 election, they nevertheless reached a compromise last week on a spending plan intended to avoid another government “shutdown.” Mr. Trump signed the $1.4 trillion deal on Friday.

While there are a handful of useful measures in the legislation, it is most notable as a cornucopia of confectionery that highlights the utter lack of fiscal restraint now dominating Beltway budget policy and creating seven-figure deficits and a soaring debt.

Republicans talk a good game on spending discipline, but tend to wilt when the outlays cover defense. Many Democrats, meanwhile, have never seen a government program outside the Pentagon that doesn’t need more money. The combination has become lethal in terms of hastening the country’s unsustainable fiscal trajectory.

Under the measure, defense spending will jump by $22 billion and domestic discretionary programs will see a $175 billion boost. The goodies are spread far and wide, The Wall Street Journal reports: $25 million for gun violence research; more money for Head Start, which studies show fails to deliver significant results; increased Medicaid funding for Puerto Rico; taxpayer subsidies for coal miner pensions; protections for Alaskan salmon fisheries; and billions in handouts for “distilleries, race-horse and NASCAR owners, short-line railroads and renewable energy.” The Export-Import Bank — a monument to corporate welfare that should be sent out to pasture — gets a seven-year reprieve from the slaughterhouse.

“Backed into a corner between choosing shutdown versus ‘mystery budget,’ many colleagues will choose ‘mystery budget’, ” Republican Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana told Politico. “Like ‘mystery meat,’ you don’t want to know what’s in it. Also like ‘mystery meat,’ you can bet at least one ingredient is a whole lot of pork.”

In addition to showcasing that deficit hawks have become an endangered species in Washington, this budget compromise should put to rest the notion that the Trump tax cuts are driving the nation’s red ink. As the Journal notes, “economic growth is feeding the Treasury” and tax receipts were up about 4 percent last fiscal year. At the same time, spending jumped 8 percent.

Members of Congress can’t stop mainlining cash like junkies on a weeklong binge. President Trump’s indifference to fiscal restraint isn’t helping, no doubt. But don’t blame the tax cuts. Washington has a problem — but it involves an addiction to spending, not a lack of revenue.