Instapundit has a regular feature called Porkbusters. In his latest installment, he discusses Bill Frist’s proposal for “bold structural reform.”
First, the Stop Over-Spending Act would give President Bush the line item veto. Pork thrives in Washington because it can be tucked away inside massive appropriation bills without any public deliberation or meaningful transparency. But, armed with special, fast-track procedures guaranteeing an up-or-down vote in Congress to specific spending cuts that the President proposes, we can subject pork barrel spending to the bright light of public scrutiny. Governors in 43 states have the line item veto and so should President Bush.
Hmm. The solution government employees and politicians propose for every problem always seems to be more government. Another act to stop senators from wasting taxpayer money? Doesn’t seem like a likely solution to me. Sounds more like a shell game.
A better solution might be to have an annual taxpayer lottery in which a panel of random taxpayers is selected to oversee all budget spending. Imagine a scenario in which we took five random people from each state – people who paid in more than they took out – and had them review all budget decisions for a year. They would be compensated for their time and without their approval no money could be spent. I wonder how that would change the theft that goes on in Washington, D.C.?