A Step In The Right Direction...Er...Left

Call me cautiously optimistic, but I think the Democrats are making some smart moves leading into the 2007 session of congress. Today it was announced that they are going to remove all "pet projects" from spending bills.

Democrats tidying up a cluster of unfinished spending bills dumped on them by departing Republican leaders in Congress will start by removing billions of dollars in lawmakers' pet projects next month.

The move, orchestrated by the incoming chairmen of the House and Senate Appropriations committees, could prove politically savvy even as it proves unpopular with other members of Congress, who as a group will lose thousands of so-called earmarks.

"There will be no congressional earmarks," Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., and Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., said Monday in a statement announcing their plans, which were quickly endorsed by incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and soon-to-be Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D- Nev.

While I completely understand that not all of those allocations of tax money are pork, but I don't think starting over with a clean balance sheets is a bad idea either.

I couldn't care less about congress not taking a pay raise or working five days a week, because frankly those moves are most likely just political posturing. However, I would actually find myself supporting a majority of the Democratic social services, if we could get the rest of the national spending in order.

Alright, alright...I might have overstated my last sentence, but you get where I am coming from.