Lame duck U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning picked an odd time to suddenly become so concerned about reckless federal spending that he was willing to disrupt the lives of thousands of Americans by single-handedly blocking a $10 billion bill that even Kentucky’s junior senator concedes everybody supports. Everybody but him, that is
Reckless, irresponsible spending and gushing red ink are hardly new in Washington. They have been occurring for most of Bunning’s 24 years in Congress, 12 years as the 4th District representative in the U.S. House of Representatives, followed by another dozen years in the U.S. Senate. Since Bunning is not seeking re-election, this is his final year in Washington, making his latest efforts to block the spending bill something akin to his swan song.
If Bunning was so concerned about federal spending, perhaps he should not have voted for the tax cuts advocated by former President George W. Bush. In one year, those tax cuts helped to turn the budget surplus the second President Bush inherited from President Bill Clinton into record deficits. Yet Bunning remained silent during the years of record setting deficits by President Bush before finally taking a stand under President Barack Obama. To be sure, the kind of deficits under Obama are frightening and irresponsible, but so were the deficits under George W. Bush.
Bunning’s belated concern for federal spending is not without its collateral victims. Among them:
‰ The 100,000 workers who have lost their jobless benefits and the 400,000 workers who are about to.
‰ The 2,000 workers the U.S. Department of Transportation was forced to furlough without pay.
‰ The doctors who will see a 21 percent cut in Medicare reimbursements.
‰ The unemployed who rely on COBRA subsidies to keep their health insurance.
‰ The states that will have to suspend major highway projects because $153 million a day in federal reimbursements have stopped coming.
‰ The 1 million rural households that will lose access to satellite TV.
Bunning also has done no favors for Secretary of State Trey Grayson and Bowling Green ophthalmologist Rand Paul, the two leading Republican candidates for Bunning’s seat. Like good loyal Republicans, both Paul and Grayson have supported Bunning’s efforts, but in truth, they probably wished the senator had not given Democrats Jack Conway and Dan Mongiardo such a prime issue on which to attack the GOP.
Bunning, 78, is famously irascible, dating back to his days as a star baseball pitcher. On Tuesday, Bunning began his day by flipping off an ABC-TV producer, and it is no secret that he dislikes Senate Minority Whip Mitch McConnell, who Bunning blames for forcing him to retire when his term expires.
The problem with Bunning’s belated stand for fiscal restraint is that real people are being hurt. His one-man stand against the bill is inexcusable.
