Conservatives Sticking to Their Principles

Cal Thomas | Syndicated columnist | Published: Sep 21, 2005

Conservatives Sticking to Their Principles

September 22, 2005

A group of conservative House republicans has recommended that Congress cut unnecessary spending in order to pay for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.

The conservatives think they can save $500 billion in unneeded spending.

At the top of their list of potential spending cuts is delaying the start of the new Medicare prescription drug coverage for one year, saving an estimated $31 billion.

They would also eliminate $25 billion in projects from the newly enacted transportation bill, which is loaded with pork.

The list also proposes eliminating $44 billion in funding for NASA’s moon and mars project.

Is this really necessary in a time of war and so many other concerns?

They also would save $4 billion by eliminating federal support for public broadcasting, cutting the taxpayer contributions for the two national political conventions (a great idea) and the presidential campaign fund and charging for federal employees to park, generating $1.54 billion in new revenue.

Congress probably won’t do any of this because spending is their life, no matter which party controls the majority, but good for conservatives for sticking to their principles.

I’m Cal Thomas in Washington.


Cal Thomas is a nationally syndicated columnist based in Washington, D.C.

Conservatives Sticking to Their Principles