Representative Jeff Flake has a reputation for being a hard core fiscal conservative, so much so that he will vote against his own party if it goes against his beliefs in small/limited government. Rep. Flake has been called a “taxpayer superhero” by the Citizens Against Government Waste. Reason has gotten Rep. Flake to list the three worst bills that were passed by Congress.
1. The Farm Bill: “Both the House and Senate versions of the farm bill extend subsidies, distort markets, and hamper future free trade agreements, and the final bill is only likely to get worse in a conference committee. Sugar growers who didn’t get what they wanted in the initial legislation are urging conferees to repeal portions of NAFTA.”
2. The Omnibus Appropriations Bill: “Congress rolled 11 appropriations bills into one massive package and passed it in late December. House members had less than 24 hours to read the legislation before we voted on it. We’re still finding out what’s actually in the bill. But we do know it contained nearly 12,000 earmarks. That was reason enough to vote ‘no.’”
3. Economic Stimulus Package: “Any time Republicans and Democrats can so easily agree on legislation as expensive as this, it’s not a good sign. Rebates look to me like an admission by Congress that perhaps the federal government shouldn’t have taken that money in the first place. Hopefully, Congress will keep this in mind as the Bush tax cuts get set to expire.”
Great so we get protectionism, subsidies, God only knows what kind of pork, and a stimulus package that implicitly admits that government is way too bloated and taking too much out of people’s incomes. Democrats and Republicans, not a dimes worth of difference.
