Quote of the Day

James Joyner · Friday, March 9, 2007 · 3 Comments

Mark Tapscott on a sleight-of-hand that will yield $7 billion in paper revenue for the federal government in FY2007 but zero actual revenue:

In the private sector, this kind of accounting is often called “fraud.” In Congress, it’s called “the budget reconciliation process.”

You say to-may-toe, I say to-mah-toe.

FILED UNDER: Congress, James Joyner, Congress

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About James Joyner
James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. Follow James on Twitter.

Comments

paul lukasiak says:

Friday, March 9, 2007 at 09:33

cheap shot….

The GOP controlled congress failed to pass the overwhelming majority of budget bils for the current fiscal year when they were supposed to, leaving the Democrats the impossible task of cleaning up the fiscal mess they were left in a few weeks time.

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James Joyner says:

Friday, March 9, 2007 at 10:18

Paul,

Tapscott was quite brutal with the Republican Congress on that score as well. He’s not criticizing the Dems for failure to clean up the mess in short order but rather for a dishonest accounting gimmick.

Indeed, his criticism here is institutional — “Congress”– not partisan.

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Billy Bob says:

Saturday, March 10, 2007 at 22:06

Actually, Tapscott is criticizing a measure enacted by the Republican Congress in 2006. Since Congressional Republicans countenanced no Democratic input on the budget, the criticism SHOULD be partisan for Republican budget tomfoolery!

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