Todd Tiahrt: “the President said in his 1996 State of the Union address that the era of big government is over. I suppose that depends…”

“the President said in his 1996 State of the Union address that the era of big government is over. I suppose that depends on what the definition of ``is'' is. I suppose that if you look at his recent attacks on Republicans in Congress, especially on education, the President and his liberal allies in Congress are threatening to shut the government down if Congress does not spend more money on education and create more education bureaucracy right here in Washington. Republicans want to send more money to the classroom. Liberals want to give the Federal Government an overpowering role in local schools. Republicans think that Federal bureaucrats have done enough damage to education, thank you very much. Liberals want to spend the money by taking it away from Social Security, while Republicans are happy to stay right here and continue to work to get more money into the classrooms, while keeping the budget agreement caps which means that there must be spending offsets by not taking money away from Social Security. If the era of big government is over, then it is time for the President's actions to match his words.”