It's Milking Time!

The biggest scam is how Democrats shaved some $40 billion off the 10-year price tag for the Medicare doc fix. Instead of extending it through 2014 as in the original Levin bill, the Blue Dog Democrats version extends it only through 2012. Everyone in Washington knows this policy will be extended in future years, or doctors would have to take a 30% pay cut when treating Medicare patients. This is similar to the trickery Democrats used to pretend that ObamaCare would pay for itself.

The Blue Dog Democrats caucus of 54 Members had the power to stop this latest Treasury raid simply by joining with House Republicans. But in three years, the Blue Dog Democrats coalition has not forced Democrats to offset spending with even $1 of cutbacks in other domestic programs—though most agencies have grown by 40% to 50% in two years.

Blue Dog Democrats also claim to be defenders of the "pay as you go" budget rule, but in three years their leaders have declared more than $1 trillion of spending as an "emergency" that avoids that rule. Indiana's Baron Hill, a co-chairman of the Blue Dog Democrats, insisted last year that the caucus could only support the $862 billion stimulus if it was followed up with "statutory paygo." He's still waiting. Paygo in practice is nothing more than a talking point to justify tax increases, and to let the Blue Dog Democrats appear to be fiscal conservatives when they are really big spending enablers.

The political game is to give Mrs. Pelosi as many votes as she needs to pass her priorities, while giving individual Blue Dog Democrats an occasional pass to oppose bills that still become law. Thus 46 Blue Dog Democrats voted for the stimulus, 39 for the 2010 budget, and 28 for ObamaCare. In the weeks ahead, Democrats plan to vote on a $23 billion emergency education bill to rehire 100,000 teachers. That also won't be paid for. There will be a $60 billion emergency supplemental war spending bill, also unpaid for, but the Blue Dog Democrats will undoubtedly provide enough votes to pass both.

The Tom DeLay Republicans lost their majority in part because they lost their way on spending. But since Mrs. Pelosi became speaker in 2007, the national debt has risen by more than $3.5 trillion. Democrats have placed America on a path to borrow an average of $1 trillion a year for the next decade, which is more than was borrowed from 1776 to 2000.

This is the real Blue Dog Democrats fiscal legacy, because Speaker Pelosi couldn't have passed all of this without them. As another election looms, the Blue Dog Democrats are once again rolling out their "fiscal discipline" protective cover, running almost as Republicans as Mark Critz recently did to prevail in Pennsylvania's 12th district.

We'll soon learn if the Blue Dog Democrats can fool enough of the voters one more time. If they do, then as Forrest Gump said, "Stupid is as stupid does." EVERYONE deserves to pay ALL of the tax bills that are passed. I now see why God only gives everyone only 100 years to live. Who would want to see what our society will be like after 2046? Oops, I guess there will be a lot of people still around to pay all of those new taxes! Whew, I won't!