The GFY 2016 Whopper

"Largese once was a word that cover behemoths such at this bill. No longer. We need a bigger and better word."

The bureaucrats and the bureaucrats who have become Washington plutocrats are telling us the good news. In fact, some are shouting it from the rooftops. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a deal! And even though both sides had to "dig deep" and make personal sacrifices, it is a deal which should sail through Congress and then be signed by our President. Pop the champagne? Maybe not so fast.

If we were drunks, I would say our treatment plans are not working. In fact, we are getting worse. We have gone from booze to meth. With the amount of criticism that was levied at the size of the "Unaffordable Healthcare Act" one would think Congress would have learned their lesson. Nope. This Government Fiscal Year (GFY) 2016 budget bill is a paltry 1,900 pages long. Similar in size to ObamaCare. And no doubt it was not written by our lawmakers. That task went to "K" Street sharpies, staffers, special interest types, and maybe even aliens. The bottom line is simply this - it is yet another MONSTER bill, full of goodies, that not red blooded Congressman (or Congresswoman) women has read in its entirety.

After a while, some of us have become good at "Washington speak". And size still does matter. This bill is not only a monster in the number of pages, but also the number of dollars. It is $1.1T! But (as the proponents say), that is only a 2% increase over last fiscal year. Well, 2% of the planet Jupiter is a much bigger number than 2% of Earth. It is a whale of a lot of money spent on some things which are nothing less than head scratchers.

The word on the street is the President is thrilled with it. He thinks he really out maneuvered the House Republicans on this one. You know, that salty old dog in the White House really put one over on the new kid on the block in the Speaker's chair. Well that may be the case. It seems like some of the President's earmarks were indeed eliminated. That can happen when everything but the kitchen sink was thrown in the mix. But funding for the President's most precious pet rocks remain intact. In fact, some are saying there is even some funding for the climate deal.

With our national debt now only a stone's throw from $19T, when is someone going to get the guts to have a yearly budget smaller than the previous year? When is someone going to get the guts to offer up a balanced budget? Or a budget with a surplus, so we can at least make a small dent in our debt? When are we going to adopt line item vetoing so we can get rid of Snail Darter protections and studies of shrimp on treadmills? In other words, when are going to grow up and budget like adults?

As Ms. Nancy has said, "We have to sign it so we know what is in it." Well Ms. Nancy, many of us are very anxious to find out what is in it. How many earmarks. And who put those earmarks in. My feeling right off the top it was a cast of thousands who came up with this witch's brew.

But don't worry. It won't take long before myself and hordes of others will be naming names. Remember folks - November is less than a year away...