Pork Tour

Nearly 11 months ago, Democrats took over Congress portraying themselves as responsible fiscal stewards. They pledged to rein in spending, put a lid on pork-barrel projects, resist big tax increases and maintain strict “pay as you go” rules rather than plunge the nation deeper in red ink.

But Democrats have managed to vastly outdo wayward Republicans in being more naughty than nice with the taxpayers’ money -- as highlighted by this week’s à la chart, your free editorial content from The Heritage Foundation.

Instead of fulfilling their promises, Democrats at year’s end are steering a budget groaning with pork toward a train wreck. The fiscal year began Oct. 1, but Congress still hasn’t completed work on 11 of 12 appropriations bills.

Analysis by The Heritage Foundation shows Congress did pass legislation to increase discretionary spending by $275 billion and bump up entitlement spending -- such as Social Security and Medicare -- by $179 billion over 10 years. The lawmakers voted to raise taxes and fees by $98 billion. They set the stage for $2.7 trillion in tax hikes. And they’ve repeatedly passed legislation to expand the budget deficit.

What’s more, Congress has failed to enact real reform of wasteful budget “earmarks” -- and instead allowed representatives and senators to insert thousands of pet “pork” projects into spending bills. House spending bills included 6,651 such earmarks, while Senate spending bills included 4,700, according to the Office of Management and Budget.

At this rate, it will leave us unequipped to fund retirement benefits for 77 million aging baby boomers.