Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., and six other Republicans last week unveiled a $125 billion spending cuts proposal. The highlights:
WASHINGTON -- Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., at times has acted like virtually every other lawmaker in proudly announcing how he helped secure federal funds for special projects in his state -- money sometimes derisively called "pork."
But Ensign also has tried to carry a banner of fiscal conservatism. And since Hurricane Katrina, he has thrust that banner higher. In the last month or so, the first-term senator has emerged as a leader of seven Republicans who say they aim to bring fiscal sanity back to Congress -- and their own party -- in part by slashing pork projects.
On Tuesday, Ensign began a press conference, given by the group he said he organized, by announcing proposals aimed at saving the government as much as $125 billion. The savings would offset the cost of the hurricane season and the war on terrorism.
Included in that proposal: slicing more than 6,000 pork projects worth $24 billion from a $286 billion highway bill, including more than $500 million in Nevada.
"The seven of us wanted to put a marker out there, to show people that there are some people with courage up here," Ensign said in an interview in his Capitol Hill office last week. "We could be attacked on any one of these things, there's no question about it."
Ensign said the group assembled after he took a stand late last month in a floor debate against a $9 billion proposal to expand Medicaid to low-income hurricane victims. Ensign argued the money could be taken from about $62 billion that Congress has already allocated for Katrina relief. He prevailed -- the measure failed, to the Democrats' chagrin.
"It's quite revealing that the senator's idea of being fiscally responsible is to promote policies that hurt the most vulnerable people in our society," Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesman Phil Singer said.
But Ensign rode that momentum into discussions with Sens. John Sununu, R-N.H., and Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and the trio started cobbling together a formal spending-cuts plan, Ensign said. They sought out Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who quickly agreed to be part of the group. Three others enlisted: Sens. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C; Jim DeMint, R-S.C.; and Sam Brownback, R-Kan.
Their staffs toiled daily during the last four weeks over a list of proposals, and the senators met about twice a week, Ensign said. They focused on about 30 proposals that would net big savings.
They didn't always agree. Of the five major proposals they eventually settled on, Ensign was least comfortable with cutting pork projects from the highway bill, which would include an estimated $534.8 million worth of transportation projects in Nevada.
Ensign has long said that fast-growing Nevada receives less interstate and transit project money than it should under a federal funding formula, and those earmarks help the state keep up with growth.
But in the end Ensign endorsed it as part of the group's proposal.
"I compromised on that," he said.
Ensign faces an election next year and although he is considered a shoo-in with no officially declared opponent, it is considered politically risky to oppose "pork spending," experts say. Constituents expect that their lawmakers will get their share of the spoils.
"We obviously hope that Sen. Ensign continues with his efforts, but voters can be fickle," said David Williams, vice president for policy at the anti-pork group Citizens Against Government Waste.
The group ranked Ensign second among 100 senators for fiscally responsible votes last year. Unlike other senators with lower scores and higher profiles, such as McCain, Ensign doesn't brag much about his spending votes, Williams said.
"He really has flown under the radar screen when it comes to fiscal heroes," Williams said.
Still, Ensign is hardly above crowing about money he helped secure for the state.
Since June, he has boasted about bagging $2 million for railroad rebuilding in Ely and other parts of White Pine County; $500,000 for the Community College of Southern Nevada for its alternative fuels program; and $750,000 for an emergency warning system for the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area, including Mount Charleston.
"He seems to be talking out of both sides of his mouth," Singer said.
But Ensign said he wasn't worried that an anti-pork stance could hurt him.
"I look at it this way: I came here to do what is right," he said.
The message of fiscal responsibility may have resonance with voters, several experts said. The issue is trending higher in polls on congressional priorities, said Michael Franc, vice president of government relations with the conservative Washington think tank The Heritage Foundation.
Ensign is out in front of a tide of voter opinion that is swelling for more fiscal restraint, the kind of fervor that perhaps hasn't been seen since the popularity of presidential candidate Ross Perot, he said.
"Voters are saying (to Congress) it's imperative for you to discern between the trivial and the important," Franc said. "That's new. And Ensign has been a big part of that."
Ensign faces no serious political risks, UNR political science professor Eric Herzik said.
Ensign can count on Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., to bring home the pork while he is on his crusade, Herzik said.
"Sooner or later if you are going to talk fiscal responsibility, you're going to have to say, 'I'll cut this from my pile of pork,' " Herzik said. "It shows, 'Hey, I'm willing to take a leaderhip role, and I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is.' "
Not everyone in Nevada is thrilled with Ensign's distaste for federal spending. Last week in an appearance on C-SPAN's "Washington Journal," Ensign said a "perfect example" of wasteful federal spending in his own state could be found in Storey County.
Through a Homeland Security Department grant this year, the county obtained a pair of night-vision goggles for anti-terrorism use. The department also paid to send someone from the county to Washington for a day of training.
"Homeland Security money should go to those places that actually are terrorist targets, that's what it's for," Ensign said on C-SPAN. "In Storey County, where Virginia City is -- it's an old historical town that you remember from the show "Bonanza" -- in that whole county there's about 1,200 people, and they got night-vision goggles to make sure they would be prepared for a terrorist attack.
"It's ridiculous the money that is being wasted, and that's why there are many of us saying 'Let's take a timeout and let's put some fiscal sanity back into our government.' "
But the goggles are a bad example of wasteful federal spending, Storey County emergency manager Joe Curtis said. People are underestimating the county as a terrorist target, he said. The goggles are valuable in responding to night reports of incidents at such sites as the county's three power plants and a fast-growing industrial park, where hundreds of trucks, including hazardous material shippers, move products every day, he said.
"I'd say that he (Ensign) is poorly informed," Curtis said.
On the C-SPAN show, several callers praised Ensign, with one viewer from New York lauding him for taking a stand.
"That's what separates the men from the boys," the caller said.
Another caller chided Ensign for claiming to be a fiscal conservative but who votes in lockstep with his party.
Ensign denied that charge. Still, Ensign said Republicans were losing their reputation as guardians of taxpayer money. He criticized the GOP for justifying irresponsible spending by claiming -- quite truthfully, he says -- that the Democrats were even more reckless.
Both parties have been fiscally irresponsible, he said.
"That's why seven of us got together and said, 'Let's take a time out here,' " Ensign told his C-SPAN audience. "Let's think about the next generation. Let's show compassion to the people down in the Gulf Coast, but let's also be fiscally responsible to the next generation."
Benjamin Grove can be reached at (202) 662-7436 or at grove@ lasvegassun.com.
archive