Spending lots of money, poorly

Back in 1949, the great Minnesota liberal Hubert Humphrey was pointedly asked on "Meet the Press" whether progressives like himself cared about holding down the costs of government. Humphrey answered yes, but "economy in government to me doesn't necessarily mean spending little. It means spending what you have and spending it well ... "

Fast-forward to a new study by the National Taxpayers Union Foundation. The group found that in 2005, House Democrats and Republicans voted to raise government outlays by nearly equal amounts, and that in the Senate, Republicans spent only somewhat less. The foundation's verdict was basically fie on both houses of Congress and on both parties, too.

The problem with such surveys is that they don't address Humphrey's point — that it's not simply a matter of how much politicians spend but also how well they spend it. The person who spends $40,000 on education may be a more prudent financial guardian than someone who leaves $20,000 at a casino.

As for White House comparisons, there's no contest. The current Republican administration leaves its Democratic predecessor in the dust for both amounts spent and money wasted. Bush is the biggest spender since Lyndon Johnson, according to the Cato Institute. In domestic discretionary spending (which doesn't include defense or entitlements), Bush has Johnson beat. By contrast, Bill Clinton stands as a paragon of restraint. Domestic discretionary spending jumped an average 8 percent a year in Bush's first term, versus only 2.5 percent annually in Clinton's eight years.

Many conservatives are amazed that Democrats haven't made more hay of their superior record in containing the size of government. The Democrats' dilemma is that they are not philosophically opposed to expanded government, even if in practice they have shown far more spending discipline.

Democrats really ought to brag about their Clintonian track record. Not only did they keep government growth in check, but they paid its bills the old-fashioned way, with tax revenues. That's what fiscal rectitude is all about. And it shines next to the Bush administration's disgraceful habit of borrowing on the backs of future generations.

Even more important, Democrats have spent the taxpayers' money with greater care. The reason, in part, is that Democrats don't maintain a childlike faith in the good intentions and can-do of the private sector. They believe in regulating these guys — and that government can do some things better than can business.

The Bush administration likes to send big checks and a have-a-nice-day to private contractors, who then do as they please. Our MBA president seems to forget that he is supposed to represent the taxpayers in these transactions, not the business interests.

Sloppy oversight has led to a plague of overbilling, incompetence and shoddy work. The gruesome details are just now emerging from at least two spending ratholes — the hurricane-relief efforts and the so-called rebuilding of Iraq.

About a quarter of the disaster aid for victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita — up to $1.4 billion — has been stolen, according to the Government Accountability Office. We've read about the French champagne, soft-core porn and Caribbean vacation. But perhaps the biggest waste of all has been the funds spent on the fraud-prevention system at the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The "watchdogs" over at FEMA did not even notice that multiple requests for aid were being filed under the same Social Security numbers. That would never have gotten past MasterCard.

In Iraq, hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars for rebuilding seem to have disappeared, according to U.S. audits. The Wall Street Journal reports that not only are corrupt contractors suspected of taking the money, but also U.S. and Iraqi government officials. Taxpayers should know that Washington has set aside more than $21 billion for the reconstruction of Iraq.

Republicans used to accuse Democrats of "throwing money at problems." The Bush administration not only throws money at problems; it misses them.

Providence Journal columnist Froma Harrop's column appears regularly on editorial pages of The Times. Her e-mail address is fharrop@projo.com