President Bush has come out in opposition to a plan that would raise the gas tax to help fund infrastructure repair. Just a week after the bridge collapse in Minnesota, Bush is concerned that members of the Transportation Committee might not be able to put the public's interests above their own personal priorities, saying "I would strongly urge the Congress to examine how they set priorities." Really? Those pesky Democrats are the ones that are struggling with spending priorities?
Since there are so many, let's go through Republicans with questionable spending habits alphabetically by state:
It was Republican Richard Shelby blocking reform of the title insurance industry while being paid by the title insurance company he founded.
It was Republican Jeff Sessions who tried to push estate tax legislation by capitalizing on Katrina victims.
It was Republican Ted Stevens who tried to spend $315 million on a Bridge to Nowhere and had his home raided by the FBI.
It was Republican Don Young who requested a $10 million earmark to benefit the property of a campaign contributor and is under federal investigation for bribery.
It was Republican John McCain who accepted more than $100,000 from Charles Keating surrounding the S&L scandal.
It was Republican Rick Renzi who got himself into a federal investigation over land swap deals and then got the US Attorney added to the purge list.
It was Republican John Doolittle who helped direct $37 million in government contracts to major contributor Brent Wilkes (now under indictment)
It was Republican Jerry Lewis who spent $2.75 million in earmarks to improve the neighborhood where he owns property.
It was Republican Gary Miller who has been directing federal funding to benefit his own real estate deals.
It was Republican Ken Calvert who used his earmarks to develop areas around his properties with federal funds.
It was Republican Duke Cunningham who's currently kicking up his heels for eight years in Tuscon Federal Correctional Institution for demanding and receiving bribes.
It was Republican Duncan Hunter who has continued funding for campaign contributor DuPont Aerospace's DP-2 "[d]espite the rejections and reports by multiple military and civilian experts that the aircraft will not fly or hover and will incinerate Special Operations forces rapelling out of the aircraft."
It was Republican Tom Feeney (aka Representative #3) who tried to supported Jack Abramoff to the Energy Department and also played golf in Scotland on Abramoff's dime.
It was Republican Larry Craig who blocked Air Force promotions until 4 C-130s were stationed in Idaho.
It was Republican Jerry Weller who accepted donations from indicted bribers Mitchell Wade, Brent Wilkes, and Jack Abramoff perhaps related to the r&d tax credit.
It was Republican Dennis Hastert who accepted at least $70,000 from Jack Abramoff while setting the agenda of the House and earmarked more than $200 million for infrastructure development around his property in Illinois.
It was Republican Steve Buyer who took paid leave from Congress to serve in the Iraq War, but then never served.
It was Republican Dan Burton who's made a career out of attending and defending lobbyist-funded travel for almost 25 years.
It was Republican Steve King who thought Nancy Pelosi's travel needed to be restricted but not Republicans who made the same trips.
It was Republican Mitch McConnell who's raised more than $220 million in his political career and, according to the Lexington Herald-Reader: "A six-month examination of McConnell's career, based on thousands of documents and scores of interviews, shows the nexus between his actions and his donors' agendas. He pushes the government to help cigarette makers, Las Vegas casinos, the pharmaceutical industry, credit card lenders, coal mine owners and others."
It was Republican Hal Rogers who was dubbed the "Prince of Pork" for the $100,000 in campaign contributions received from companies benefitting from his ID card legislation.
It was Republican Wayne Gilchrest who, while Republicans held the vote open for 45 extra minutes, allowed Delay and Blunt to convince him to change his vote to hand out $5 billion in subsidies and tax breaks to oil companies.
It was Republican Trent Lott who was quoted by Sen. Tom Coburn as saying of pork "Balancing the budget is a nice idea, but I got a election to win."
It was Republican Candice Miller who accepted more than $75,000 in contributions from casino syndicators while pushing federal legislation to expand indian gaming in Michigan.
It was Republican Michele Bachmann who used government resources to campaign for re-election after only a few months on the job.
It was Republican Sam Graves who blew half of a grant for urban youth programs on battling the goth subculture in his district.
It was Republican Kit Bond who signed his name to a letter written by Fannie Mae lobbyists designed to deflect attention of an investigation of Fannie Mae onto the investigators themselves.
It was Republican Roy Blunt who tried inserting provisions into the bill creating Homeland Security which benefitted tobacco companies before marrying one of their lobbyists. Blunt also attached a rider to the 2003 Iraq Appropriations Bill which benefitted UPS, for whom his son has worked as a lobbyist.
It was Republican Pete Domenici who attempted to include in the budget speculative revenue from drilling in ANWR.
It was Republican Peter King who declared that "Baghdad is like Manhattan" in justifying spending for the Occupation of Iraq.
It was Republican Vito Fossella whose staffmembers run a consulting firm hired by Fossella and who spent $20,000 of campaign funds on dinners.
It was Republican Virginia Foxx who didn't think Katrina victims deserved aid money.
It was Republican Patrick McHenry who tried to spend $129,000 in federal money on Christmas ornaments.
It was Republican Steve Chabot who's tried to eliminate the NEA and NEH while inserting $1.6 million for arts institutions with major campaign supporters on the board.
It was Republican Dave Hobson who's enjoyed meals from Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman while in France.
It was Republican and current Minority Leader John Boehner who handed out checks from tobacco lobbyists on the floor of the House of Representatives and accepted funds raised by Sallie Mae on his behalf while being lobbied on student loan reform.
It was Republican Deborah Pryce who organized a fundraiser for Bob Ney and contributed $2,000 which ultimately went to his legal bills.
It was Republican Bob Ney who was bought and paid for by Jack Abramoff and was later immortalized as Representative #1 in court records and our hearts.
It was Republican Tim Murphy who has allegedly been mixing government and campaign business unethically.
It was Republican Jim DeMint who placed an anonymous hold on federal aid for Katrina and flood victims, delaying aid in the wake of disaster.
It was Republican Bob Corker who, as mayor of Chattanooga, more than once sold environmentally protected land to developers (including Wal-Mart) for personal profit.
It was Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison who needed a judge to fix her trial for corrupt election practices in order to stay in the Senate.
It was Republican Sam Johnson who volunteered to personally fly the plane that nuked Syria because Iraq's WMDs were there.
It was Republican Joe Barton who responded to Katrina by voting against federal assistance while pushing federal aid for oil companies.
It was Republican John Culberson who called dispaced New Orleanians "deadbeats" and uses his spot on Appropriations to block light rail in Houston.
It was Republican Kenny Marchant who said that he agrees with Bush "99 percent of the time" on fiscal policy while naming cutting the federal deficit as one of his top priorities.
It was Republican Tom DeLay who...well, the list is too long but you know the high points. He did everything that could be packed into a 24/7/365 time system.
It was Republican Pete Sessions who has consistently received financial support from San Francisco-based Promia Inc. while Promia received an $800,000 earmark and a declaration from Sessions that "he was working to get another $8 million in funding to expand that research."
It was Republican Orrin Hatch who did his best to protect dietary supplements from serious government regulation while his son was a lobbyist for the industry.
It was Republican Chris Cannon who has been lobbied multiple time by his brother and explained "If my wife decided to lobby, then we would probably say, 'No talking to my office.' I just don't see my brother in the same category.'"
It was Republican Randy Forbes who has refused to return or give to charity contributions from Tom Delay, Duke Cunningham, MZM, Jack Abramoff and Americans for Tax Reform.
It was Republican Frank Wolf who earmarked $1 million to fund an organization sponsoring one of his bills.
It was Republican Tom Davis who married a consultant for government contract assistance company ICG and then was successfully lobbied to threaten Congressional investigations if a contract was not awarded to an ICG client.
It was Republican Jim Sensenbrenner who tallied more than $200,000 worth of lobbyist-funded travel, being dubbed "the reigning congressional champ when it comes to taking free trips."
It was the Republican Agriculture Committee which directed 42.4% of subsidies to committeemembers' districts between 2003 and 2005.
It was Republican Vice President Dick Cheney who, while helping orchestrate the War in and Occupation of Iraq, has seen his Halliburton stock options increase in value from $241,498 to more than $8 million as Halliburton revenue has skyrocketed thanks to government contracts in Iraq.
And finally, it was Republican President George W. Bush who sent this country into a war that will $2 trillion when it's all said and done and ended up with a less secure country and world.
So who's got their spending priorities in order? That's what I thought.