HT: Galley Slaves

One by one, congressional Republicans take their turns shoveling dirt onto the grave of small government. The Washington Times reports:

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said yesterday that Republicans have done so well in cutting spending that he declared an “ongoing victory,” and said there is simply no fat left to cut in the federal budget.

Mr. DeLay was defending Republicans’ choice to borrow money and add to this year’s expected $331 billion deficit to pay for Hurricane Katrina relief. Some Republicans have said Congress should make cuts in other areas, but Mr. DeLay said that doesn’t seem possible.

“My answer to those that want to offset the spending is sure, bring me the offsets, I’ll be glad to do it. But nobody has been able to come up with any yet,” the Texas Republican told reporters at his weekly briefing.

Asked if that meant the government was running at peak efficiency, Mr. DeLay said, “Yes, after 11 years of Republican majority we’ve pared it down pretty good.”

Congress has passed two hurricane relief bills totaling $62.3 billion, all of which will be added to the deficit.

Great. Let’s borrow money from ourselves to pay people to take civilians’ guns, hand out fliers, handcuff people and drag them from their homes, while fostering people’s continued dependence upon government by giving them $2000 in debit cards.

Thanks, Congressman. The House leader of the Republican party has exposed himself as a statist. It’s easy for Democrats to jump ship to the Republicans when they believe the same things about government power. Statists not only ignore the return on investment of forced charity, but they assume government force is the only motivator in people’s lives.

BTW: Bunnie Diehl links to suggestions from the Heritage Foundation, with more than enough savings to cover the Katrina bills.