The World Needs More Ninjas

You know it can’t be good when Senators that voted for the bill have this to say:

“Finally, by pure exhaustion, we’re going to stagger across the finish line, emaciated and without much to brag about,” Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) said in an interview. “The only way we got the energy bill was to pick a lot of the meat out of it. This is not a particularly impressive bill.”

You know something’s wrong when even the more liberal Democrats are complaining about the staggering costs:

“This bill digs us deeper into a budget black hole,” said Democratic Russ Feingold of Wisconsin. “It fails to decrease our dependence on foreign oil; it rolls back important consumer protections; and, finally, it undermines some of the fundamental environmental laws that our citizens rely upon.”

Feingold tried to block the bill by arguing it exceeded congressional spending limits, but the Senate rejected that move.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like the transportation bill does a whole lot better. Though, I guess it’s a matter of perspective…quotes on the bill from the same Washington Post article linked above:

• George W. Bush:
  

  I am pleased that Congress met these objectives in a fiscally responsible way and without raising gas taxes.

• John McCain:
  

  I wonder what it’s going take to make the case for fiscal sanity here?