SPENDTHRIFT CONGRESS
Dems helped facilitate profligacy
JAY FLINT SCOTTSDALE
Sam Coppersmith almost got it right with his column in Sunday’s Tribune. His comments about the spending habits of the Republican Congress were not far off base, but he failed to point out that the basic cause of this spending spree was due to the action of the Democrats. Some time ago, when the Democrats had control of the Congress, the Republicans, in an attempt to regain control, introduced the “Contract with America.” Promises were made to the American public outlining, among other things, fiscal responsibility of a Republican Congress. The effort was successful in electing a Republican majority. As a result, a principal architect of the “Contract” became the target for removal by the Democrats. The conditions of the “Contract” without the principal architect, diminished and the “Contract with America” no longer had the intended impact. While the Republican Congress has gone overboard in their spending spree, the Democrats must share their part of the blame by having removed the spending restraint offered by the now defunct “Contract with America.”