Constant Conservative

Now, before some of you become upset with what I’m about to say, I would let you know that I enjoy burritos–particularly those which are made fresh and are absolutely chock full of meat, salsa, rice–I could go on, but breakfast today is a cookie and a fizzy drink, so I’m just making myself hungry.

At any rate, here we go. The stimulus bill which has now become law under the very misleading title of  the “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009″ was a burrito. Those 1100+ pages included so many things (full list may be found here) which probably would not be been able to make it on their own merits. Similarly, some things in a burrito can stand by themselves (the lovely sauteed chunks of steak, for instance) but other things (such as the black beans) don’t usually get eaten solo.

Now that our esteemed members of Congress have figured out how to make a burrito, they are fully prepared to build another one. This one is called the “Omnibus Spending Bill” and would, for starters, include 9 special ingredients with lots and lots of funky flavorings:

The “omnibus” spending package unveiled today by House Democrats would combine nine annual appropriations bills left over from last year that are needed to fund programs such as NASA and the national parks through September, the end of the fiscal year. Total spending on the programs would grow by $32 billion, or about 8.5 percent, from last year.

[...]

The measure was released as President Barack Obama pledged at a budget summit to cut the government’s yearly budget deficit in half in four years. The White House and Congressional Budget Office forecast the deficit for this fiscal year will be at least $1.3 trillion.

First, let’s get that strange name out of the way. “Spending” and “Bill” are synonymous, so we can just cut it down to “Spending.” Then, if we take “Omnibus,” which means “many things at once” we can come up with a simpler, or at least more accurate, title. Let’s call it “Spending for Everything Congress Wants.”

Word on the interwebs is that this tasty wrap includes 9,000 earmarks. Can we say that Saint Obama the Earmark Slayer has his work cut out for him? Hmm, I just had the image of a crazy burrito dragon. One can take any metaphor too far.

Speaking of taking things too far, I believe that is exactly what Congress is doing. I did not send Senators and a Representative to Washington, DC so they could pass every bill without reading, discussing, arguing, dissecting, supporting, attacking and otherwise doing their jobs with regard to the bill. Did you?

Update

Malkin’s got much more on the issue.