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Watch dog report says Congress's spending habits die hard

The latest report from the research arm of a government-spending watch dog group finds that the number of spending reduction proposals introduced in the House and Senate during 2005 and 2006 rose by 15 percent in the two years. But the bad news, according to the National Taxpayers Union Foundation "BillTally" report, is that spending hikes continued to outpace cuts at a 20-to-1 ratio during the same period.

National Taxpayers Union (NTU) analyst Peter Sepp says more attention is being paid to introducing spending-cut legislation, but still not enough to actually reduce the tide of deficit spending as far as the national budget is concerned. "The problem," says Sepp, "is the amounts being spent are still huge -- and spending hikes continue to dwarf spending cuts, in terms of dollars."

Looking at the 109th Congress, the report found more than one-third of all House members (151) and nearly one-fifth of Senate members (19) had wish lists that would boost the budget by at least $100 billion. In contrast, just 28 representatives and eight senators had legislative agendas that would reduce the budget.

Sepp says there must be more balance in the bills submitted from these legislators. "If we don't have a balance between spending cuts and spending increases, we face one of two things: a larger national debt burdening our children, or higher taxes burdening us and our children," he explains.

He contends that does not have to happen if Congress decides to reduce spending "in places that are deemed low priority."