‘We wrote the bill’

With each passing day, the massive economic stimulus package being pushed by President Obama and congressional Democrats looks more like the vote-buying slop we've come to expect from Washington.

Hundreds of billions of dollars have been set aside for public works projects, such as bridge and highway improvements, because the president wants an injection of cash into the economy for materials and labor. But the Congressional Budget Office has determined that only 7 percent of the $356 billion in current infrastructure spending proposals would be spent this year, with 31 percent spent next year.

Meanwhile, congressional Democrats are showing no remorse in larding up the $825 billion bill with $50 million in arts subsidies, $200 million for teacher bonuses and a whopping $15.6 billion worth of Pell Grants for college students.

The legislation also would heap a multibillion-dollar bailout on states struggling with revenue shortfalls. Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons, a Republican, has informed lawmakers that the state could see enough federal aid to provide a "partial or full reversal" of the higher education and state worker salary cuts he has proposed.

Such largess might spare college students and public employees from sacrifice, and it might very well deter big-spending legislators from enacting damaging state tax increases.

But beyond that, how does all this jolt the economy? How does this create the jobs needed to support a recovery? And how does propping up bloated state governments make their spending sustainable beyond the near future?

"Yes, we wrote the bill," said a glib House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in response to criticism that the concerns and suggestions of minority Republicans were not being heard. "Yes, we won the election."

House Republicans wisely are distancing themselves from this boondoggle. On Friday, they urged the president to stimulate the economy solely through tax cuts -- not frivolous spending. Their proposal includes slashing rates on those in the two lowest income tax brackets, making unemployment benefits off limits to the IRS, offering incentives to home buyers who make down payments of at least 5 percent and cutting taxes on small businesses.

That makes more sense than spending too much, too late. And it will do far more good if Americans don't have to pay interest on a federal debt bloated by wasteful spending.

This country's consumers and businesses are tightening their belts and saving where they can. It's time Washington did the same.