Caesar Renders Unto Others

February 14, 2003

By Timothy T.C. McGhee

Fiscal Year 2003

Last night the House of Representatives finally passed the omnibus appropriations bill for fiscal year 2003 which began more than four months ago on October 1, 2002. The Senate took a break from the Democrat-filibustered Estrada nomination debate and subsequently passed it as well. This bill checks in as the largest appropriations bill ever, spending $397.4 billion.

Last week the president had threatened to veto this bill if it did not retain certain pro-life provisions and if it did not stay within his $385.9 billion cap on non-defense spending. Taking off $10 billion for the Defense Department and $2.5 billion for the Customs Service, which now falls under the Homeland Security Department, Congress met that limit, and the president has praised it for that.

This bill retains several good pro-life provisions in current law such as the president’s authority for the Mexico City policy and UNFPA funding, a continued ban on federal funding of abortion, and increased funding for abstinence-only education programs.

This bill also earmarked funds to needy organizations such as $90,000 for the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame, $350,000 for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, $750,000 for the Baseball Hall of Fame, $725,000 for the Please Touch Museum, and $1 million for the Iowa Historical Society for exhibits related to the world food prize. Last night, Senator McCain was railing on the 885 such earmarks in this bill and pointed out that each goes to a district represented on the Appropriations Committee.

After Rep. Chris Cannon raised a concern, the appropriators did manage to remove a provision to purchase a National Enquirer building in Florida that would have cost taxpayers $20 million.

Balanced Budget Amendment

Yesterday, Reps. Istook, Sensenbrenner and 94 other members of the House introduced a Balanced Budget Amendment (H.J.Res. 22). Constitutional amendments face considerable hurdles in attaining passage.

“The White House is projecting budget deficits of $304 billion this year and $307 billion next year. Democrats say the Bush administration is to blame because of President Bush's 2001 tax cuts and his proposed $1.3 trillion in additional tax cuts,” ABC News reported. “It's hypocritical to say you oppose the deficit but don't support the balanced budget amendment,” Rep. Istook said.

Sen. Larry Craig has introduced a Senate version, S.J.Res. 2.

Fiscal Year 2004

Last Monday, President Bush submitted his budget for next year. It moderately increases the projected deficit, both by increasing spending and reducing revenue with tax cuts. One of the more favorable spending increases is with $37 million abstinence-only education programs. Such programs are still far outspent by federal dollars for Title X (“ten”) funding for “family planning” and other abortion-related items.

Last Sunday, on ABC’s This Week, it was pointed out that this is the first time in U.S. History when taxes have actually been cut during wartime. Normally taxes are increased such as the original founding of the IRS during the Civil War. However, what was not pointed out was how the size of the federal government has mushroomed much later since the mid-20^th Century.

The president’s budget also includes relief to reduce the National Debt. That's good because House Budget Committee members are speaking out. To fellow members of Congress Rep. Pat Toomey said in a statement, “the President's budget should be a ceiling on spending not a floor.” Rep. Gil Gutknecht said in a statement, “The Administration will have to justify spending that borrows hundreds of billions of dollars from our children and grandchildren.”

National Debt Approaching Ceiling

Last week, the Treasury Department announced that the public debt of the United States “is expected to reach the statutory ceiling of $6,400 billion on or about February 20th and will likely remain above the current debt ceiling thereafter.” Daily calculations “to the penny” indicate that Treasury has already had to do some shuffling of funds in order to stay within the current ceiling. “Such shifting of funds would allow the government to pay its bills through the beginning of April,” the department said.

A national debt clock indicates that the debt has increased “an average of $1.29 billion per day since September 30, 2002” or “$7,500 every second.” That site goes on to calculate that each American citizen’s share of this debt is more than $22,000.

The Dollar is Weakening Against the Euro

Just after the UNMOVIC report on Iraq and just before the release of the president’s budget, the Washington Post reported, “Growing fear of war in Iraq has pushed Europe's common currency, the euro, sharply higher against the dollar, reversing a long-established pattern in which geopolitical jitters led investors to seek refuge in U.S. currency.

“The euro has risen more than 20 percent since it was introduced a year ago in the form of bills and coins as an emblem of a united continent. At the time it was worth only 89 cents. It was at parity with the dollar as recently as December.”

For Prayer

Please pray that Congress would exercise fiscal responsibility by holding spending down, balancing its budget, and reducing the national debt.

It wouldn’t hurt to let your congressmen know what you think either. You can look them up online with your zip code.